1  new  Crisis 


UC-NRLF 


130 


6eo.  UP.  Bell 


THIRD  EDITION. 


Girard,  Kans 
APPEAL  PUBLISHING  CO. 

19O3. 


PRICE  50    CENTS. 


THE 


CR85 


B\ 


GEO.    W.   BELL, 

Author  of  "TRAMMELED  TRADE,"  "THE  ISSUES  OE  '88, 
"AMERICAN  SHIPPING,"  AND  OTHER  WORKS. 


GIRARD,    KAN., 

APPEAL  PUB  CO. 

1902. 


H 


GIF! 


Entered,  According  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year,  1887. 

By  GEO.  W.  BElvIv, 
In  the  Office  of  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PREFACE. 


I  make  no  apology  for  presenting  this  volume  to  the  public. 
This  is  an  age  of  books,  and  of  criticism,  in  which  all  may  speak 
freely.  I  had  something  to  say,  and  have  said  it  a,s  best  I  could, 
under  the  circumstances.  I  have  written  what  I  believe  to  be 
true,  and  offer  it  to  the  consideration  of  the  public  for  what  it  is 
worth. 

We  have  reached  a  crisis  in  our  national  development.  We 
ha,ve  rushed  to  this  pinnacle  of  greatness  with  a  mad  impetuosity 
unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  the  world;  ignoring  social  adjust- 
ments, essential  to  the  symmetry  and  stability  of  a  state. 

My  purpose  being  to  prove  the  existence  of  a  class  con- 
spiracy, the  design  of  which  is  to  subvert  the  principles  of  our 
government,  by  a  monopoly  of  all  wealth,  I  have  discussed  the 
merits  of  no  measures,  further  than  to  prove  their  centralizing 
tendencies. 

The  times  demand  the  greatest  intelligence;  the  concerted 
wisdom  of  the  wise;  the  grandest  heroism  of  the  brave;  the  purest 
virtue  of  the  good,  and  the  most  unselfish  devotion  of  the 
patriotic;  and  to  contribute  my  mite  in  strengthening  a  feeling 
of  duty  among  the  masses,  was  my  object  in  writing  this  volume. 

I  ha,ve  endeavored  to  discuss  all  questions  in  a  purely  non- 
partisan  spirit,  and  to  be  entirely  impersonal,  in  allusions  to 
measures  and  policies.  I  have  "appealed  to  reason,"  and  not 
to  passion;  to  the  understanding  and  not  to  the  feeling  of  men, 

These  are  times  for  ca.lm  reflection,  earnest  investigation  and 
wise  moderation. 

I  have  not  attempted  to  write  a  book  of  "standard  facts,"  but 
a  brief  review  to  excite  public  thought.  I  have  avoided  general 
statistics  as  far  as  possible,  using  "facts  a.nd  figures"  only  to 
show  how  recent  legislation  has  resulted  in  centralizing  wealth 


44^908 


anu  power.  As  far  as  I  have  used  such  statistics,  I  have  endeav- 
ored to  select  from  reliable  sources;  from  secretary's  reports, 
from  the  speeches  of  leading  statesmen,  and  from  political  works, 
which  are  recognized  as  authority.  As  I  use  figures  only  as  cor- 
roborating evidence,  my  argument  would  be  little  weakened  if 
they  failed,  in  any  particular  instance,  to  stand  a  severe  test  of 
criticism. 

As  the  safety  of  the  republic  rests  on  the  happiness  of  the 
home,  I  have  plead  for  comforts  for  the  cottage.  To  ma,ny,  our  na- 
tional strength  and  great  wealth  are  our  security.  But  remember, 
the  elements  of  liberty  were  never  seized  by  force,  but  stealthily 
taken  under  forms  of  law.  The  weakest  and  poorest  nations  of 
Europe  enjoy  the  greatest  degree  of  safety,  a,s  wealth  only  excites 
the  cupidity  of  ambition.  The  tramp  is  rarely  robbed;  the  hovel 
is  rarely  burglarized. 

I  am  aware  that  my  suggestions  will  call  out  many  severe, 
if  not  acrimonious  criticisms.  For  this  I  care  nothing.  Monopoly 
has  many  and  able  defenders,  insolent  and  aggressive;  besides, 
as  long  as  it  is  infinitely  easier  to  criticise  a  good  book  than  write 
one  of  but  fair  merit,  there  will  be  many  critics  for  every  new 
publication,  having  sufficient  strength  to  excite  comment. 

After  a  hasty  review,  I  frankly  confess  that  my  composition 
betrays  almost  unpardonable  haste,  with  a  leaning  to  careless- 
ness, but,  in  extenuation,  I  plead  a  necessity,  which  gave  me  but 
a  few  weeks  for  the  work,  with  frequent  interruptions  by  the1* 
demands  of  business. 

If  this  volume  meets  with  public  fa,vor,  it  will  strengthen 
the  cause  of  the  people;  it  not,  it  can  injure  only — 

THE  AUTHOR. 


—7— 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
An  Oriental  Tale  of  An  Occidental  State. 

CHAPTER  II. 
Malthusian. 

CHAPTER  III. 
Government  By  Consent. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Liberty. 

CHAPTER  V. 
A  Discovery. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Methods  of  Acquiring  Wealth. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Great  Conspiracy. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Conspiracy — Continued — Monopoly  Grasping  the  Land. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Conspiracy — Continued  — Monopoly  Centralizing    the     La,nd. 

CHAPTER  X. 
Land  and  Its  Ownership. 


-8— 

CHAPTER  XL 
Monopoly  of  Money. 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Monopoly  of  Trade. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Labor  and  Its  Master. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Labor — Continued — Necessity  of  High  Wages. 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Transportation. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Transportation — Continued — How   the    System    is    Changing   Our 
Civilization. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  Demands  of  the  Hour 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Conclusion. 


— 9— 


CHAPTER  L 

A  PRETTY  STORY— AN  ORIENTAL  PICTURE  OF  AN  OCCI- 
DENTAL STATE. 

OJOURNING  in  an  old  Moorish  village  in  southern 
Spain,  where  the  dismal  old  mosque,  with  vine-cov- 
ered minaret,  the  briar-grown  fields  and  choked  up 
canals,  furnished  the  only  evidence  of  ancient  civ- 
ilization and  splendor,  I  read  a  pretty  story,  once  pop- 
ular among  those  characteristically  poetic  people.  It 
was  one  of  the  charming  oriental  tales,  so  interesting 
in  its  perusaj,  while  leaving  a  valuable  lesson  on  the 
mind  of  the  contemplative  reader.  Of  course,  it  was 
of  a  prince,  as  stories  to  be  pretty  must  be  em- 
bellished with  the  dazzling  splendor  of  wealth.  A 
mighty  prince,  so  the  story  goes,  with  all  the  love  of  pomp  a,nd 
show  common  in  old  Eastern  times,  prepared  for  a  great  feast. 
His  whole  people  were  to  be  his  guests,  and  the  gorgeous  splendor 
of  the  occasion  wa,s  to  eclipse  all  the  festivals  of  his  opulent  an- 
cestors. Stupendous  preparations  were  made.  A  great  mansion 
was  erected,  with  lofty  rows  of  majestic  pillars,  balconies  and  bal- 
ustrades, and  alcoves  and  high-a,rched  ceilings,  upo»n  which  were 
rich  paintings  in  gold  and  beauteous  colors,  giving  in  life-like 
reality  the  battles  won  by  his  warlike  ancestors,  the  marriage 
feasts  and  stately  ceremonies  of  a,  prince  new  crowned.  At  the 
left,  and  looking  to  the  east,  were  the  canopied  heavens,  with 
azure-tinted  clouds  from  whose  soft  outlines  angels  emerged,  with 
heavenly  harps  happifying  the  glad  occasion.  Away  back  wa£ 
the  dark  blue  vault,  studded  with  brilliant  galaxies  of  stars,  bear- 
ing the  outlines  and  names  given  by  the  old  Chajdee,  as  he 
watched  from  his  cloudless  desert  the  wonders  of  the  skies.  In 
the  palace  wings  were  dancing  halls,  where  light-hearted  mirth 
could  trip  the  "light  fantastic  toe"  and  guide  in  the  dizzy  waltz 


—10— 

some  brown-cheeked  beauty;  and  great  drawing-rooms  a^id  par- 
lors, whose  deep,  downy  carpets  drowned  the  slippered  foot;  with 
silken  gold  embroidered  doors  and  rare  furniture,  with  brilliant 
chandeliers  that  ravished  the  eye  of  the  beholder.  In  the  center 
was  the  great  banquet  hall,  with  spa,ce  enough  to  plant  a  province. 
Its  walls  were  deeply  carved  and  gilded  with  gold.  In  bass  re- 
lief were  forests  green  and  fruitful.  There  were  mountains  clad 
with  vines,  with  pleasant  cots  hanging  on  the  crags  and  dimpled 
babes  playing  carelessly  with  the  frisky  mountain  goat.  There 
were  golden  fields  of  ripened  grain,  waving  in  the  summer 
breeze,  and  a  happy  peasantry,  with  sickles  sharp,  trudging 
gladly  forth  to  reap  the  laughing  crop.  There  were  villages'  and 
towns  with  great  mosques,  from  whose  walls  reaches  up  the  tall 
minaret,  and  so  real  is  all,  that  one  can  almost  hear  the  contem- 
plative muezzin  call  the  people  to  prayers.  In  shapely  rows  the 
thousand  tables  stand  to  bear  the  feast  when  spread.  Years  were 
spent  in  the  great  preparation,  and  the  breast  of  the  prince  leaped 
for  joy  as  the  last  painter  dropped  the  brush  and  saluted  his 
royal  master  with  a  tear  and  a,  smile.  The  proclamation  was 
issued,  and  in  the  parchment  corner  was  placed  the  seal  of  em- 
pire. On  ready  horse,  the  swift  couriers  flew  toward  every  breeze 
of  heaven.  "All  the  people,"  from  all  the  provinces,  colonies, 
satrapies,  islands,  and  wealthy  cities;  all  the  sailors  were  called 
from  off  the  stormy  seas;  "all  the  people,  from  the  gray-haired 
old  sire,  who,  with  dimmed  eye  and  dull  ear,  waited  for  the  last 
warning,  to  the  undressed  babe  of  an  hour,  were  called,  and  the 
cajl  meant  obedience.  "Empty-handed,  too,"  the  prince  had  said, 
"for  has  not  the  patient  toil  of  these,  my  subjects,  given  me 
enough  that  I  may  entertain  them  all?  Who  brings  a  grain," 
he  said,  "insults  my  bounty,  for  I  only  feed  them  from  a  purse 
which  they  themselves  have  filled  and  they  are  my  guests."  The 
march  began  and  a,s  the  lofty  minarets  appeared  above  the  green 
old  palms,  the  people  kneeled  and  sang  for  joy  the  praises  of 
their  generous  prince.  Soon,  the  sweet  swelling  notes  of  music, 
from  a  thousand  trained  throats,  and  timbrels  and  lutes  and 
harps  greeted  their  ea,rs,  and  again  they  sang  the  praises  of  their 
prince.  Liveried  servants  greeted  the  guests  with  a  bugle  blast 
and  the  prince,  donning  his  rojal  robes,  and  bowing  his  head  to 
receive  the  crown  from  loyal  courtiers,  ascended  the  throne  a^id 


; 

P- 

2 


—11— 

e  the  people  welcome,  with  a  thousand  smiles  and  becks,  a 
thousand  protestations  of  love  and  gratitude  for  loyal,  prompt 

bedience. 

At  a  signal  given,  the  great  doors  swung  on  their  golden 
hinges  and  the  banquet  hall  was  opened  wide.  A  shout  from  the 
millions  rent  the  air  and  the  deep  vales  and  forests  took  up  the 
notes  and  echoed  back  the  praise  of  the  generous  prince.  The  ta- 
bles groaned  beneath  the  weight  of  all  that  satisfies  hunger  or 
tempts  the  taste  of  the  epicure.  I  said  the  banquet  halls  were 
large  and  broad;  and  in  East  and  West,  in  North  and  South,  for 
every  taste  and  condition  of  men,  the  table  groaned  with  plenty. 
There  were  fish  from  every  la,ke,  sea  and  river,  flesh  from  every 
mountain  and  every  plain,  fowls  of  every  feather,  breads  and 
fruits  and  fine  old  wines,  ripened  into  luxury  by  many  years  of 
waiting,  thickly  strewed  the  great  tables,  and  the  people,  as  they 
gazed  in  their  bewilderment,  aga,in  shouted  the  praise  of  their 
generous  prince. 

Tne  dining  hour  approached,  the     signal     sounded,  and  the 

rderly  multitudes,  with  orderly  step  and  low  obeisance,  ap- 
proached the  luxurious  table.  But  hebold!  There  were  no  plates 
prepared,  and  here  and  there,  at  long  intervals,  on  a  cushioned 
throne,  sat  a  haughty  noble,  who  mincingly  tasted  some  choice 

orsel  and  sent  it  away  with  a  bitter  fault.    When  the  multitudes 
advanced,  these  pompous  few  waved  them  ba,ck  with  a  frown  and 
with  harsh  words  of  authority,  and  said,  "take  you  hence,  this 
mine."     "When  shall  we  dine?"  said     a    pale-faced     woman, 

'where  are  our  seatr-  a,t  the  feast?"     "Don't  know,"  gruffly  said 
e  few  well-seated,  and  each  said,  "this  is  mine."    When  hunger 

rought  the  people  nearer,  and  contention  arose,  bold  ones  de- 
claring that  they  had  been  brought  without  their  seeking,  and 
that  there  was  enough  for  all,  a,  curtain  moved,  and  armed  re- 
tainers, with  keen  blades,  and  shouting  "conspiracy,"  slew  many 
of  the  people.  They  appealed  to  the  prince,  but  the  prince  mock- 
ingly sneered  and  called  them  idlers  and  conspirators,  and  he 
ordered  the  "law  to  ta,ke  its  course." 

Then  the  people  gathered  together  and  held  earnest  council 
to  determine  what  should  be  done  to  save  them  from  the  rapidly 
approaching  danger  of  misery  and  starvation,  and  it  was  decided 
to  send  persons,  fleet  of  foot  and  cunning  in  observation,  to  seek 


—12— 

out  a  country  that  corn  might  be  sown,  vines  planted  and  the 
fruits  of  the  land  gathered  to  stay  the  famine.  With  a  hope  that 
held  impatient  anxiety  in  check  the  multitude  waited  and  soon 
the  shouts  of  joy  once  more  rent  the  air,  for  their  friends  had 
returned  with  the  gladdest  of  tidings.  They  reported  that  to  the 
beautiful  west,  just  across  the  mountain  range,  lay  a  vast  expanse 
of  gently  rolling  plains,  with  the  fattest  soil,  rarest  fruits  and 
plants,  with  grea,t  forests  and  meadows,  and  mines  of  boundless 
wealth  where  never  man  had  left  a  mark  to  show  his  presence. 
There  were  lakes  and  rivers  and  beautiful  lesser  streams  and  a 
pure,  sunny  climate  that  gladdened  the  spring  with  myriads  of 
flowers,  that  crowned  the  summer  with  a  golden  harvest  and  gave 
each  autumn  the  ripened  fruits  and  crops  that  bring  contentment 
and  joy  to  the  cottage  home. 

They  soon  forgot  their  sorrows,  and  the  strong  man  gathered 
together  his  wife,  his  little  ones,  his  aged  parents,  and  made  hur- 
ried preparations  to  possess  a  new  home.  As  the  new  land  seemed 
so  much  more  promising  than  the  land  beyond  the  mountains  and 
seas,  from  which  they  came,  the  people  forgot  their  sorrows,  a,nd, 
in  happy  anticipations  of  the  future,  fell  on  their  faces  and  praised 
the  gods,  that  they  had  lead  them  to  so  great  a  good,  through  the 
instrumentalities  of  a.  bad  prince.  They  even  forgot  the  cruelty 
of  the  prince  a,nd  returned  to  their  former  allegiance. 

With  glad  hearts  the  great  multitudes  moved  from  the  in- 
solent throng  that  had  mocked  at  their  apparent  misfortunes  and 
dividing  into  families  and  tribes,  proceeded  to  select  lor  them- 
selves abiding  places.  Some  loved  the  mountain  side,  by  stream 
and  forest.  Some,  the  gentle  hill,  where  flocks  might  gra^e  on 
the  undulating  slopes  and  rear  their  young  in  peace.  Some  chose 
the  broad  valleys  and  plains  where  the  patient  ox  could  draw  the 
plow  and  prepare  more  easily  for  the  golden  grain.  Soon  the  deep 
valleys  and  hills  and  mountains  rang  with  the  glad  songs  of  a 
new  life.  All  felt  secure,  as  the  land  was  new  and  unpeopled. 


Some  were  guiding  the  plows,  some  with  sharp  sickles  were 
reaping  the  waving  meadow,  some  felling  the  trees  to  prepare 
a  habitation,  some  patiently  sitting  on  the  stream's  bank  with 


—13— 

baited  hook,  and  waiting  for  the  unwary  fish  to  take  a  tempting 
morsel,  some  sat  in  the  cool  shade,  whispering  tales  of  love  and 
others  strolling  over  hills,  plucking  the  bright  May  flowers  and 
weaving  them  into  garlands  to  wreathe  the  brow  of  loved  ones, 
wnen  the  hasty  summons  came,  by  the  prince's  servant,  that 
others  "owned  the  land,"  and  the  people  were  hastily  ordered  to 
depart. 

Debate  and  expostulations  were  in  vain.  Loyal  appeals  for 
mercy  and  pledges  for  future  service,  were  alike  unheeded. 

The  prince  had  divided  his  dominion  among  a  favorite  few, 
the  fa,t,  sleek  sons  of  opulence  who  sat  at  the  long  table  at  the 
great  feast,  and  he  must  defend  his  dignity  by  saving  his  favor- 
its  estates  from  trespassers.  The  few  owned  this  vast  domain, 
and  though  they  never  saw  it  and  could  not  occupy  it,  their  lazy 
minds  unfolding  by  the  quickening  powers  of  wine,  feasted  in 
proud  insolence  on  the  mystic  picture  which  they,  drew  of  their 
estates.  So  the  prince  issued  a  proclamation,  commanding  all 
his  people,  under  pain  of  expulsion  by  the  army  of  the  kingdom, 
to  depart  from  the  lands  which  they  had  taken. 

Merry  laughter  was  changed  to  weeping,  joy  into  sorrow,  and 
dajicing  into  the  most  grievous  and  mad  murmurings  of  despair. 

A  grea.t  tumult  arose,  and  none  could  advise  the  people  of  any 
other  country.  The  darkest  sorrow  cast  its  shadow  on  the  land. 
The  babe  dropped  its  rattle,  and  clinging  to  the  withered  breast 
of  a  shivering,  wild-eyed  mother,  died  in  her  arms.  The  blush 
of  hope  faded  from  the  cheek  of  beauty,  and  strong  men  yielded 
to  the  power  of  want  and  died. 

But  from  sleepless  despair  came  frantic  courage.  As  the 
wounded  lion  unable  to  flee  turns  and  rends  his  pursuers,  so  the 
young  and  heated  blood  of  young  and  daring  spirits  arose  against 
this  despotic  oppression.  They  appealed  to  the  gods,  and  claimed 
that  the  world  was  ma,de  for  all  the  children  of  men  and  not  for 
a  few.  They  said,  the  world  is  wide  and  bountiful.  There  is 
abundance  for  all.  Man  has  but  one  body,  with  one  stomach  to 
feed,  one  back  to  clothe,  and  none  can  use  or  consume  the  pro- 
ducts of  so  vast  a  country,  so  'tis  evident  tha.t  God  intended  that 
all  should  partake  of  His  bounties.  But  the  insolent  nobles 
sneered  at  the  argument,  in  which  they  saw  no  force.  They  called 
the  people  traitors,  as  they  had  violated  "vested  rights,"  and  de- 


—14— 

served  to  be  extirpated  from  the  earth.  The  haughty  prince, 
thirsting  for  glory,  marshalled  his  hosts,  of  foot  and  horse,  and 
marched  against  his  rebellious  subjects. 

But  the  multitudes  flew  to  arms,  the  gods  favored  their  cause, 
they  smote  the  army  of  the  prince,  hip  and  thigh,  and  drove  them 
into  the  walls  of  the  city,  where  they  prepared  for  a  siege.  But 
the  prince,  nobles  and  rich,  having  grown  effeminate  by  many 
luxuries  and  much  ease,  maddened  the  soldiers  with  their  inso- 
lence and  in  the  darkness  of  night,  while  the  great  halte~were  filled 
with  revelry,  and  the  inebriate  nobles  were  drinking  health  to 
fair  Indies  who  wore  their  virtue  and  their  raiment  with  an  ease 
in  harmony  with  these  voluptuous  times,  and  mocking  the  unfed 
and  poorly  clad  besiegers,  the  gates  were  opened  and  the  wild 
multitudes,  smarting  from  their  many  wrongs,  rushed  in  and 
seized  the  city.  The  prince  commanded  his  troops  to  slay  the  peo- 
ple, but  the  soldiers  answered  with  a  laugh,  "we  proclaimed"  the 
people,  but  the  people  answered  with  wild  shouts  of  derision. 

When  the  multitude  beheld  with  what  splendor  and  opulence 
their  rulers  had  lived,  while  they  were  so  poor,  they  became  like 
infuriated  beasts,  devoid  of  mercy  or  reason. 

They  roasted  the  fat  sleek  rulers  in  their  own  grease;  they 
smothered  the  prince,  and  elevating  his  head  on  a  pole,  the  young 
men  shot  arrows  at  the  ghastly  face.  They  razed  the  palace  and 
the  city  walls,  and  the  great  estates  of  wealth  and  splendor,  and 
the  chief  marts  and  the  temples,  and  places  of  amusement  to  the 
ground.  When  the  people  tired  of  their  work  of  destruction  and 
season  returned,  they  held  a,  solemn  council  and  listened  in  silence 
to  all  who  proposed  plans  for  the  future  government  of  the  coun- 
try. 

When  an  aged  man  arose  and  proposed  the  choosing  of  a  new 
king  the  whole  multitude  became  clamorous  with  rage,  and  would 
have  torn  him  to  pieces,  had  not  the  gods  enveloped  him  in  a 
cloud  so  da.rk  that  they  feared,  and  desisted  from  their  rashness. 

Soon  their  passions  subsided  and  the  council  proceeded  to  lay 
plans  for  the  future  good  of  the  nation,  and  when  it  was  proposed 
that  there  be  no  high  and  no  low,  but  that  all  should  be  equal, 
that  the  people  should  rule  by  themselves  or  their  chosen  agents, 
who  should  hold  their  powers  by  the  suffrance  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple, that  ea,ch  should  have  an  indisputable  right  to  the  product 


—15— 

of  his  labor;  that  none  should  have  a  right  to  demand  tribute 
from  another;  that  none  should  own  that  which  he  could  not 
create,  or  mould,  or  fashion  for  the  use  of  man,  and  detach  the 
same  from  the  earth,  a^id  as  the  gods  made  the  world  for  thd 
habitation  of  the  children  of  men,  and  the  ownership  of  the  world 
by  a  few  had  always  resulted  in  injustice,  insolence  and  des- 
potism, therefore,  that  the  land  be  divided  among  the  people  as 
each  may  need,  to  be  held  on  such  terms  a,s  the  whole  nation,  or 
its  chosen  agents,  may  determine;  the  loud  huzzas  of  a  wild  and 
happy  people  shook  the  very  hills  with  boisterous  echoes. 

The  council  dissolved  and  the  re-gladdened  people  went  their 
way.  Soon  busy  hands  were  toiling;  each  for  the  benefit  of  home 
and  loved  ones.  Forests  were  felled,  mines  explored,  hills  adorned 
with  pleasant  cottages,  where  hands  of  love  pruned  the  rose  and 
the  jessamine,  and  soft  arms  twined  the  neck  of  the  evening  re- 
turning husbandman. 

Farms  sprang  up,  and  busy  market  places,  and  the  lowing 
herds  strolled  lazily  over  the  many  grassy  hills  a<nd  mountain 
sides.  The  seasons  came  and  went,  and  went  and  came,  each 
bringing  its  great  harvest  of  grain  and  happiness.  As  nature's 
bounties  were  greater  than  man's  necessities,  and  none  could  ap- 
propriate what  he  did  not  produce  or  could  not  occupy,  there  were 
no  rich,  consequently  no  avarice,  no  tyranny  and  no  despotism. 
As  there  were  no  rich,  there  was  no  poverty,  for  plenty  beckoned 
every  one  to  honest  effort,  and  so,  there  was  no  crime,  no  prisons, 
.no  pauper  dens  of  misery,  and  for  a  thousand  years  the  people 
dwelt  in  happiness,  and  the  prattling  babes  were  taught  to  curse 
the  name  of  king. 


—16— 


CHAPTER  IL 

MALTHUSIAN. 

|  HAT  the  sensitive  nerves  of  the  favored  few  might  be 
saved  from  the  shocking  presence  of  misery  and  want, 
Dr.  Malthus  wrote  a  "labored  treatise"  arguing  the 
wisdom  of  placing  such  checks  on  population  by  gov- 
ernment a£  would  prevent  it  outrunning  the  food  sup- 
ply, as  he  argued  that  the  food  supply  increased  in 
but  arithmetical  ratio,  and  population  in  geometrical 
ratio;  that  over-population  would  soon  be  manifest 
and  great  misery  a,nd  decay  follow.  The  gist  of  his 
argument  was  that  the  capacity  of  the  world  to  sup- 
port people  was  limited,  those  who  gained  possession 
of  it  had  the  better  title  and  that  those  who  came  to  a  world  pre- 
occupied, to  a  feast  with  no  plate,  had  simply  but  one  remedy; 
to  take  himself  away  and  die.  He  said,  that  it  was  plain,  that  if 
a  man  came  to  a  world  already  occupied,  he  was  simply  one  too 
many,  and  should  depart;  and  nature  stood  ready  to  provide  for 
his  removal.  He  argued  that  wars  and  disea.se  and  pestilence  were 
nature's  instrumentalities  which  checked  the  over-population  and 
prevented  greater  misery.  He  suggested  a  rigid  control  of  mar- 
riage by  the  government,  to  check  births  and  leave  the  care  of 
the  young  in  more  responsible  ha.nds. 

Dr.  Malthus  was  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  a  follower  of  the 
Galilean,  yet  he  proposed  to  forbid  the  very  class,  among  whom 
our  Savior  mingled,  for  whom  He  came  and  suffered,  from  the 
heavenly  joys  of  home,  from  the  councils  of  loving  wife  and  the 
caresses  and  prattling  babes.  According  to  Rev.  Dr.  Malthus,  if 
God  sent  one  of  His  children  to  some  spot  on  His  footstool  al- 
ready occupied  by  some  other  of  His  children,  this  one  was  simply 
one  too  many,  a  cruel  mistake  of  God,  and  must  take  himself 
away,  and  nature— God— stands  rea,dy  to  enforce  the  decree.  This 
refined  barbarism  was  the  best  apology  ever  offered  for  monopoly 


- 

an 

as 

; 


—17— 

despotism,  and  it  was  hailed  with  joy  by  the  "genteel"  of 
all  Christendom.  Every  "landlord"  chanted  his  praise,  the  "noble" 
applauded  in  eloquent  phrase,  and  every  blood-stained  crown  that 
shielded  low-browed  ignorance  from  the  darts  of  contempt,  was 
doffed  to  do  him  homage.  He  wined  with  dukes,  dined  with  kings 
d  found  a  fawning  sycophant  in  every  gorgeous  palace,  for  he 
,d  solvju  the  problem  of  how  the  few  might  hold  possession  of 
e  world. 

Proudhon  believed  in  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  brotherhood 
of  man.  He  believed  in  the  inalienable  right,  to  an  absolute 
equality  of  opportunities  for  all  human  beings;  that  every  child 
of  God  had  a,n  equal  right  to  live  in  the  world,  on  the  soil,  and 
to  clutch  the  raw  material  from  nature's  treasure-house  and 
fashion  it  into  the  necessaries  to  sustain — for  man's  allotted  time 
the  existence  that  was  given  him. 

Proudhon  was  fined,  persecuted  by  the  monopolists,  nobles 
and  fa,vored  few;   was  cast  into  prison,  his  writings  condemned 
as  mischievous,  and  his  noble  name  pronounced  by  the  "genteel" 
ith  bitter  contempt  and  hatred. 

The  pious  Malthus  would  have  defended  the  orince  in  the 
etty  oriental  tale,  while  the  agnostic  Proudhon  would  have 
eaded  the  revolt  before  hunger  suggested  disloyalty,  and  snatched 
from  insolent  aristocracy  the  powers  which  they  had  usurped,  and 
crowned  humanity  the  just  possessors  of  the  world. 

Sixty  years  have  passed  since  the  pious  Malthus  claimed  the 
world  for  the  few,  and  thirty-six  years  ha,ve  passed,  since 
Proudhon  demanded,  from  his  prison  walls,  the  world  for  the 
whole  human  family;  and  though  the  productive  capacity  of  the 
earth  is  greatly  increased,  the  question  of  human  rights  more 
earnestly  demands  solution  tha,n  ever  before. 

Times  have  greatly  changed,  yet  as  long  as  the  masses  take 
their  opinions  ready-made  from  the  classes,  pliilosophy  must  yield 
to  sophistry  and  the  Malthusian  doctrine  will  rule  the  Christian 
world.  Who  writes  for  fame  or  cash,  must  write  for  the  few, 
while  he  who  writes  for  the  people,  has  little  compensation  but 
the  satisfaction  of  having  done  his  part  in  the  emancipation  of 
his  fellows  from  their  willing  servitude  to  the  cunning  few. 

Malthus  is  dead.  His  cajiting  philosophy  has  been  long  ex- 
ploded by  the  discovery  of  the  almost  infinite  capacity  of  the  earth 


—18— 

to  produce,  under  more  enlightened  methods,  yet  all  Christian 
countries,  including  ours,  are  following  out  the  Malthusian  doc- 
trine. 

A  small  number  of  favorites,  whom  the  fates  have  honored, 
own  the  country,  its  soils,  mines  a,nd  forests,  and  so  completely 
monopolize  the  conditions  under  which  all  must  live,  that  a  ma- 
jority find  themselves  in  a  world  already  occupied — at  a  feast 
with  no  plate — and  are  compelled  to  compromise  with  some  one 
more  favored,  for  the  privilege  of  existing  on  the  earth  where 
God  ha^  placed  them. 

I  deny  that  the  God  of  heaven  has  sent  a  majority  of  His- 
frail  children  into  this  world,  to  toil  and  sweat  in  poverty,  that 
soft-handed  idleness  might  fare  sumptuously,  or  to  be  enslaved, 
degraded  and  starved,  because  He  had  parceled  out  the  broad 
acres  of  His  footstool  to  a  favored  few  of  His  vain-glorious  and 
haughty  creatures. 

Never  was  there  a  spot  on  earth  so  richly  endowed  by  nature 
as  to  supply  the  a.varice  of  the  few  and  the  necessities  of  the 
many.  Luxury  deepens  greed,  and  at  every  sight  of  poverty,  op- 
ulence tightens  its  grip  on  its  money  bags  and  drives  pale  hunger 
farther  from  me  door. 


—19— 


CHAPTER  IIL 


'GOVERNMENT  BY  CONSENT. 


r 

lo 


LL  peoples  have  been  ruled,  or  "governed" — which  is 
a,  modernized  term,  more  soft  and  musical  to  our  so- 
ciety—by organized  intelligence.  The  number  Of 
shrewd,  cunning  people  who  desire  to  live  luxuriantly 
by  their  wits,  and  enjoy  the  heavenly  thrill  of  public 
applause,  with  good  judgment  of  human  nature  and 
skill  in  organizing,  has  always  been  so  small,  that 
there  has  been  little  difficulty  in  formulating  schemes 
by  which  the  masses  of  honest,  credulous  people, 
busied  with  domestic  cares  and  widely  separated, 
could  be  easily  controlled. 

The  faults  of  the  vicious  few  have  given  abundant  argument 
convince  the  people  of  the  necessity  of  repressive  power  being 
odged  somewhere,  and  the  apparent  necessity  for  prompt  and 
vigorous  Action  in  the  suppression  of  crime  or  wrong,  has  recon- 
ciled most  people  to  a  central  authority  with  physical  forces  suffi- 
cient to  command  respect.  The  basic  idea  of  all  governments 
has  been  to  "protect  the  weak  against  the  encroachments  of  the 
strong;"  and  this  specious  pretext  won  the  respect,  submission 
and  support  of  the  populace.  Governments  once  established,  the 
fundamental  principles  are  subverted,  and  the  cunning  few  be- 
come rulers,  having  better  opportunity  to  study  the  character  of 
the  ruled,  to  think,  to  organize,  to  cultivate  the  arts  of  finesse, 
to  win  each  other's  confidence  and  co-operation,  and  surround 
themselves  with  a,  halo  of  authority;  and  the  whole  machinery 
of  state-craft  becomes  an  instrument  for  the  aggrandizement  of 
tne  few.  The  unorganized,  uninstructed,  credulous  masses  never 
discover  the  change,  except  when  the  rulers  becoming  so  intox- 
icated with  their  success,  abuse  their  authority  over  their  equals, 
r  by  other  means  expose  their  weakness  or  insincerity. 

Because  credulity  can  only  be  broken  by  a,  shock,  and  rev- 


—20— 

erence  for  superior  authority  nurses  apathy,  until  some  glaring 
outrage  fires  the  latent  forces  of  human  passion,  no  people  on 
earth  ever  revolted  against  uniform,  careful,  systematic  oppres- 
sion, however  severe  or  exacting.  A  government  of  consistent 
despotism  has  always  commanded,  and  still  commands,  more  loyal 
respect  and  cheerful  obedience  than  one  of  lax  liberty.  The  gfeat 
credulous  masses  repose  at  the  base  of  the  fundamental  idea  of 
government,  and  reverence  the  authority,  not  for  what  it  is,  but 
for  what  it  assumes  to  be.  The  old  music  is  so  sweet,  the  mem- 
ories so  dear,  the  arts  of  the  demagogue  so  seductive,  that  the 
people  have  never  discovered  the  departure  from  the  true  prin- 
ciples, ajid  thus  modern  governments,  and  ancient,  too,  when 
once  fairly  organized,  are  carried  on,  not  for  the  g(5od  or  security 
of  the  many,  or  to  "protect  the  weak  against  the  encroachments 
of  the  strong,"  but  for  the  benefit  of  the  few,  and  for  the  purpose 
of  taxing  the  energies  of  the  weak,  that  the  strong  may  become 
still  stronger.  The  strength  of  these  centralized,  governmental 
organizations,  depends  upon  the  leader,  or  head,  to  keep  recon- 
ciled with  his  press  or  props,  to  the  finesse  of  his  diplomats,  to 
the  loyalty  of  his  courtiers  and  the  skill  of  his  satellites,  in  feed- 
ing the  credulity  of  the  people.  Here  grows  a  fertile  field  for  the 
demagogue  and  the  politician,  and  this  lip  service,  by  careful 
practice,  has  taken  many  a  man  whom  nature  designed  as  a  com- 
mon dunce  and  transformed  him  into  a  polished,  eloquent  and 
fashionable  hypocrite.  The  rulers,  because  they  have  always 
feared  the  discovery  of  their  secret  by  the  "common  herd,"  have 
always  managed  to  provide  themselves  with  means  of  defense  in 
case  of  emergency.  To  this  end,  under  the  pretended  necessity 
of  a  power  to  "check  lawlessness,"  to  hold  in  awe  the  vicious,  to 
quell  domestic  violence,  or  "impress"  other  nations,  great  armies 
have  been  organized  and  kept  ready  for  action.  These  grea,t  con- 
suming armies,  every  one  in  Europe  today,  are  kept,  not  to  de- 
fend the  rights  or  liberties  of  the  people,  but  to  hold  in  awe, 
the  "lower  millions,"  to  enforce  the  authority  of  their  "govern- 
ment," which  only  means  to  preserve  the  dignity  and  authority 
of  the  ruling  classes. 

Thus  we  see  in  every  country  the  melancholy  spectacle  of 
people  struggling  under  the  burdens  of  outrageous  taxation,  and 
giving  their  noble  sons  to  the  hated  military  service,  to  keep  an 


army  to  hold  themselves  in  forced  obedience  to  organized  cun- 
ning, who  "rule  by  divine  right."  A  government  is  the  type  of  a 
nation's  ruling  passion.  The  people  are  the  rulers  of  a  republic, 
the  stay  of  empire,  or  the  prop  of  despotism;  for  the  most  cruel 
yoke  that  ever  galled  the  neck  of  toil,  was  fashioned  by  the  fools 
who  wore  it. 

Trace  the  pages  of  history  and  you  will  see  that  the  most 
oppressed  peoples  have  prated  most  of  liberty,  and  the  most 
despotic  governments  h^ve  been  republics.  All  nations  are  ruled 
by  organized  cunning,  and  the  degree  of  liberty  depends,  not  upon 
the  style  of  government,  but  upon  the  climate,  soil  and  density 
of  population,  if  the  civilization  is  sufficiently  aged  to  be  moulded 
in  harmony  with  the  environments.  The  careful,  discriminating 
man,  without  prejudice,  can  more  readily  determine  the  power 
exercised  by  organized  cunning,  through  corporations,  monopolies 
a,nd  caucus  purchase,  and  thus  define  the  degree  of  liberty  re- 
tained, by  a  process  of  deduction,  than  by  reading  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  cheering  the  stars  and  stripes,  or  singing 
"Yankee  Doodle."  If  organized  intelligence,  through  its  great 
wealth  and  combinations,  exercises  as  much  power  over  the 
profits  of  industry  a,nd  production,  as  do  the  monarchs  of  Europe, 
what  is  the  difference  in  the  degree  of  liberty  enjoyed  by  the* 
"subject"  more  than  the  greater  opportunities  given  by  a  more 
sparse  population? 

But  what  is  liberty?  Is  it  but  a  condition  of  the  mind  that 
so  reconciles  us  to  our  lot  that  we  feel  no  desire  to  leap  the  pre- 
scribed bounds?  or,  is  it  in  reality  such  an  absence  of  repressive 
force  as  will  permit  us  to  enjoy  enlarged  privileges  in  locomotion, 
in  thought,  in  speech,  in  action,  in  the  pursuit  of  property,  of 
happiness  and  the  control  of  the  profits  of  our  own  labor?  Men 
are  not  free  if  other  men  control  the  profits  of  their  industry, 
and  the  conditions  under  which  they  procure  a  livelihood,  and  if 
organized  cunning  controls  the  profits  of  industry,  imagination 
alone  can  ease  the  yoke  of  servitude. 


—22— 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LIBERTY. 

[UR  national  pride  is  so  closely  allied  to  vanity,  that 
we  have  educated  ourselves  into  the  notion  that  lib- 
erty was  begotten  on  the  new  soil  of  America,  and 
born  in  1776,  but  a  little  careful  thought  dispels  the 
pleasing  illusion.  While  it  is  true  that  every  civ- 
ilization that  ever  blessed  or  cursed  a  land,  climbed 
from  savagery  on  the  ba,cks  of  slaves,  it  is  also  true 
that  the  first  crouching  wretch"  who  shrank  from  the 
frown  of  a  cruel  master,  longed  for  liberty  and  made 
the  first  contribution  to  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence. The  spirit  of  liberty  groaned  in  the  chains  of 
ignorance  through  all  the  oblivious  ages,  and  only  awoke  into 
action  on  the  shores  of  the  New  World,  where  the  hand  of  mon- 
archy, paralyzed  by  three  thousand  miles  of  waves,  sat  lightly 
on  its  subjects;  where  muscles  toughened  by  hardy  use,  hearts 
grown  brave  and  confident  from  frequent  contests  with  wild 
bea,sts,  and  wilder  men,  a  fearless  love  of  liberty,  developed  from 
the  free  exercise  of  a  will  that  was  necessarily  self-reliant. 

Since  the  Angles  and  Saxons  overran  Brittania,  there  has 
been  an  irrepressible  conflict  between  monopoly  and  liberty — cen- 
tralism and  local  self-government — but  the  colonies  being  so 
grea,t  a  distance  from  this  central  body,  the  latter  found  room  for 
a  rapid  development.  Norman  centralism,  or  aristocracy  in 
England,  assumed  to  monopolize  the  land,  the  circulating  medium 
and  the  nation's  trade,  while  localism  or  liberty  demanded  a  rule 
by  "common  consent." 

Centralism,  or  monopoly,  assumed  to  tax  the  many  for  the 
benefit  of  the  few,  while  localism  denied  the  right  of  taxation, 
except  by  a  law  to  which  the  taxed  were  a  party.  Every  battle 
fought  in  America's  forests  was  a  triumph  for  localism  or  lib- 
erty, but  the  iron  hand  of  monopoly  showed  its  strength  as  soon 


as  there  wa£  anything  to  tax,  and  then  came  the  conflict.  Mo- 
nopoly, or  centralism,  had  watched  the  people's  struggles  from 
a  foreign  throne,  and  when  it  came  to  levy  tribute  from  these 
sturdy  freemen,  our  ancestors  denied  the  validity  of  the  demand, 
as  they  had  not  been  consulted  on  the  matter.  They  said  taxation 
against  consent  is  slavery,  and  it  was  base  to  be  a  slave. 

Being  pressed  in  the  matter,  they  hurled  forth  the  immortal 
Declaration  of  Independence,  swearing  that  all  men  were  "created 
equal,"  and  endowed  with  certain  inalienable  rights,  and  among 
those  rights  were  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness;  To 
derend  these  grand  principles  they  struggled  through  an  eight 
years'  war,  and  finally  forced  the  surrender  of  the  last  army  of 
centralism  in  the  New  World. 

As  armed  centralism  succumbed,  the  people  rejoiced  in  the 
thought  that  they  were  free,  and  celebrated  the  victory  with  loud 
huzzas,  a,nd  shouts  and  dance,  and  blare  of  horns  and  drums.  But 
as  with  all  past  ages,  their  boast  of  freedom  was  but  mockery, 
for  all  men  with  hearts  and  souls,  soon  read  between  the  bars  of 
e  "sacred  emblem  of  liberty"  a  written  lie,  for  beneath  its  very 
folds,  "protected"  by  its  shade,  millions  crouched  und*er  the  lash 
of  cruel  masters,  because  God  had  stamped  them  with  a  dusky 
cheek.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  a  promise  that  all 
should  be  free,  and  the  victories  of  the  revolution  were  seals  to 
the  compact.  But  for  eighty  years  the  patriotic  shouts  of  joy 
were  mingled  with  the  groans  of  bondsmen,  and  the  chains  on 
the  limbs  of  men  and  mothers  clanked  in  fierce  discord  with  the 
boastful  songs  of  patriotism. 

But  conscience  awoke,  and  the  long  deferred  promise  was  re- 
vived. The  men  of  '76  said,  "'tis  base  to  be  a  slave,"  while  the 
men  of  '61  said,  "'tis  base  a,like  to  hold  as  be  a  slave;"  and  when 
old  John  Brown  stooped  from  the  gallows  to  kiss  the  lips  of  a 
slave  child,  it  was  the  grandest  prophecy  ever  recorded  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world. 

The  late  "unpleasantness"  was  the  first  great  strike  against 
"cheap  labor,"  a,  protest  against  the  idle,  coining  the  sweat  of  toil 
into  luxurious  opulence,  a  declaration  that  cash  should  be  sub- 
stituted for  the  lash.  Few  men,  'tis  true,  confessed  that  they 
had  fought  to  "free  the  slaves,"  but  the  climax  to  the  irrepressi- 
ble conflict  had  come,  and  an  irresistible  destiny  drove  the  free 


—24— 

laboring  men  of  the  North,  to  snatch  the  fetters  from  the  galled 
limbs  of  toil  and  cast  them  into  darkness,  and  there  they  lay, 
rusting  in  the  museums  of  the  past. 

I  joined  that  great  strike,  and  contributed  my  full  share  m 
breaking  my  brother's  chains.  I  saw  "my  brother,"  for  there  is 
no  color  line  between  men  of  brains,  and  every  man  who  stands 
erect  and  wears  the  image  of  God,  and  carries  in  his  bosom  a 
heart  warmed  by  love,  is  my  brother. 

The  struggle  was  long  and  severe,  but  when  the  tents  were 
struck,  the  muskets  stacked,  the  cannons  silenced  and  the  smoke 
of  battle  cleared  away,  the  great  old  sun  for  the  first  time  in  all 
its  eternal  circles  in  space,  shown  down  on  a  nation  of  freemen. 

Now,  as  slavery  is  a  natural  condition  in  certain  stages  of 
national  development,  it  is  also  as  natural  at  certain  other  stages 
to  be  extinguished.  It  is  not  the  body,  but  the  toil  of  a  slave,  that 
avarice  would  own,  and  when  the  cost  of  keeping  of  the  slave  is 
greater  than  the  profit  of  his  toil,  the  ownership  of  the  body  will 
disappear.  Where  land  is  dea,r,  raw  material  monopolized  and 
labor  plenty  and  cheap,  'tis  better,  more  profitable  and  safe  to 
hire  the  slave,  than  own  him.  This  condition  was  rapidly  ap- 
proaching in  America,  a,nd  with  the  strength  of  a  monarchial 
government,  slavery  would  have  disappeared  without  the  shed- 
ding of  blood. 

Yes,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  black  slavery  was 
abolished,  and  la,bor  dignified  with  perfect  citizenship,  yet  there 
is  a  melancholy  reflection,  that  today  the  labor  of  a  freeman  is 
cheaper  to  the  employer  than  would  be  the  labor  of  a  slave.  In 
other  words,  a  freemen  toils  cheaper  tha,n  a  slave;  and,  as  it  is 
the  profits  of  toil  that  the  cunning  desire  to  control,  when  "free 
labor"  is  cheaper  than  slave  labor,  they  prefer  that  system. 

Liberty  is  the  last  thing  the  ruling  class,  or  the  cunning  few, 
have  ever  been  willing  to  grant  to  the  many,  and  a  means  by 
which  the  profits  of  industry  might  be  appropriated  has  puzzled 
the  shrewd  brain  since  the  world  began.  The  new  conditions 
that  canceled  the  personal  ownership  of  the  negro  of  the  South, 
ushered  in  an  age  in  which,  by  the  pursuance  of  a,  new  policy, 
more  civilized  and  equally  certain,  the  whole  profits  of  industry 
might  be  turned  into  new  channels  leading  to  centralized  ag- 
grandizement. This  meant  the  organization  of  wealth,  and  for 


—25— 

le  entire  extinguishment  of  liberty,  a,  tribune  monarch  of  mo- 
>poly  needs  but  the  common  skill  of  shrewdness. 

The  country  was  rapidly  developing;   the  bulky  products  of 

farm  and  mine  were  revolutionizing  the  world  of  commerce; 
the  people  were  educated  and  intelligent,  but  the  individual  was 
so  much  absorbed  in  his  domestic  pursuits,  and  felt  so  secure 
in  his  liberty  and  the  perpetuity  of  the  republic,  that  no  encroach- 
ments would  arouse  his  fears,  as  he  believed  himself  prosperous. 

With  a  country  so  indescribably  boundless  in  all  its  grandeur 
and  resources,  where  every  change  seemed  prosperity,  as  it  trans- 
formed the  valueless  into  the  valuable,  retrogression  was  impos- 
sible. 

In  this  happy  condition,  and  so  grand  a  prophecy  for  the  fu- 
ture, the  people  slept  in  proud  security,  while  the  cunning  puz- 
zled their  brains  to  form  a  scheme  for  self-aggrandizement.  All 
countries,  regardless  of  the  name  they  bore,  had  been  ruled  by 
a  few  for  the  benefit  of  a  few,  and  this  must  yield  to  the  same 
fate  when  opportunity  offered,  or  schemes  gigantic  enough  to 
compass  the  results,  could  be  formulated. 

This  was  no  little  kingdom,  dukedom  or  principality,  peo- 
pled by  a  sluggish  mass,  whose  spirits  had  broken  under  the  lash 
of  tyranny,  so  to  control  the  profits  of  the  industries  required 
a  vaster  scheme  than  was  ever  conceived  by  monarch  or  con- 
queror. The  boldest  and  most  cunning  dared  not  dream  of  touch- 
ing the  liberty  of  the  "subject" — or  the  citizen — but  to  carefully 
and  systematically  shape  the  policy  of  all  industries,  and  mould 
the  avenue  through  which  wealth  and  fortune  comes,  would  lead 
unerringly  to  the  most  absolute  control  of  a,ll  profits,  and  finally, 

property  and  all  industry. 


—26— 


CHAPTER  V, 

A  DISCOVERY. 

HEN  the  argosies  of  the  maritime  traders  of  the  bar- 
barous republics  of  the  renaissance  returned  from 
successful  adventures,  the  wealthy  merchant  vainly 
attributed  his  good  fortune  to  his  superior  ability, 
but  when  unwise  speculations  wrecked  his  finances, 
he  attributed  his  misfortunes  to  the  caprice  or  hide 
den  purposes  of  the  gods.  So  the  people  of  America, 
having  witnessed  such  marvelous  national  develop- 
ment, apid  enjoyed  such  unparalleled  prosperity, 
vtainly  assume  that  this  happy  condition  is  due  tq 
their  superior  virtue,  intelligence  and  peculiar  insti- 
tutions. As  long  as  the  train  moves  rapidly  and  smoothly,  there 
is  great  Admiration  for  the  mechanism  of  the  locomotive;  and  as 
our  progressive  development  has  been  by  the  most  wonderful 
strides,  our  train  must  be  of  the  most  perfect  construction,  there- 
fore, the  most  safe  and  faultless,  and  the  officials  the  wisest  and 
most  sagacious  of  men. 

Speeding  through  a  thousand  years  of  conquests  in  half  a,  cen- 
tury, and  intoxicated  with  the  rapid  and  ever-changing  land- 
scape and  architectural  beauties,  a,  dazed  enchantment  enslaves 
our  loyalty,  and  we  close  our  eyes  to  every  fault  and  open  our 
resentment  to  every  critic  whose  treasonable  tongue  dare  doubt 
the  infinite  perfection  of  our  laws,  the  spotless  integrity  of  our 
Authorities  or  the  divine  purity  of  "our  party."  With  a  senti- 
ment so  beautiful  in  its  blindness,  so  charming  in  its  stupidity, 
so  ecstatic  in  its  ignorance  and  so  misleading  in  its  patriotism, 
the  cunning  have  small  trouble  in  deceiving  those  whom  they 
would  control. 

People  readily  forget  that  we  owe  very  much  of  our  seem- 
ing prosperity  to  causes  quite  remote  from  our  intelligence, 
patriotism  or  industry,  and  that  even  for  those,  we  are  indebted 


to  opportunities  never  enjoyed  by  a^ny  other  people.  We  boast 
of  the  grandeur  of  our  country  as  though  we  were  the  authors 
of  its  existence.  People  forget  that  we  took  this  vast  continent 
fresh  from  the  hands  of  Almighty  God  but  a  few  years  ago,  with 
not  a  stump  in  the  great  forests,  not  a  tra,ck  on  the  vast  fertile 
plains;  with  the  greatest  extent  of  arable  and  fertile  soil,  the 
most  extensive  mines,  of  all  valuable  kinds,  with  the  best  and 
cheapest  buiiuing  material,  and  all  that  contributes  to  a  nation's 
greatness,  in  the  most  fabulous  quantities,  and  more  accessible 
than  in  any  other  country;  and  that  just  across  the  fields  and 
pastures,  to  the  west,  there  was  gold  and  silver  enough  to  pay 
all  the  bills.  They  forget  that  this  stupendous  amount  of  raw 
and  Accessible  material  and  the  boundless  plains  were  given  us, 
and  that  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  possess  and  go  to*  work  to  de- 
velop nature's  resources;  and  that  the  whole  vast  continent  did 
not  cost  the  capital  of  a  day's  toil.  Forgetting  the  part  tha,t  God 
and  nature  played,  and  appropriating  all  the  honors,  then  com- 
paring the  development  with  that  of  people  who  have  struggled 
through  more  than  a,  thousand  years  of  despotism,  no  wonder 
they  are  puffed  up  with  self-glorification. 

But,  as  in  the  wildest  and  most  reckless  lives,  there  come 
moments  of  contemplation,  so,  in  the  march  of  nations,  events 
of  such  moment  transpire  as  to  arouse  public  attention  and,  pos- 
sibly, demand  public  criticism  and  reform. 

The  great  "strike"  for  free  la,bor — the  late  war — was  so 
gigantic,  and  its  sorrows  so  universal  and  deep  that  before  it 
closed,  the  whole  nation  was  weary.  The  thought  of  final  victory 
and  lasting  peace,  engrossed  the  minds  of  all  patriotic  people. 
So  when  the  war  closed,  each  turned  from  the  scenes  of  strife 
with  a  sigh  of  relief  and  plunged  into  the  private  pursuits  of  peace 
witii  the  same  enthusiasm  with  which  they  had  rushed  to  the 
cnarge  at  the  bugle's  call.  The  demands  of  war  had  been  so. 
enormous  that  every  industry  had  received  a,  new  impetus.  Money 
was  plenty,  prices  were  high,  and  labor  profitable.  Relieved  from 
the  anxieties  of  war  and  cheered  by  the  ambitious  hopes  of  pri- 
vate prosperity,  the  whole  people  rushed  almost  wildly  into  the 
various  private  and  public  enterprises.  But  soon  there  came  a, 
lull,  as  at  the  close  of  battle.  Then  the  steeds  began  to  weary, 
the  motive  power  to  weaken,  and  the  great  engine  that  had 


—28— 

plunged  so  fearlessly  forward,  threatened  explosion.  Careful 
men  began  to  realize  that  there  were  dangers,  even  in  times  ot 
peace.  From  an  elevated  standpoint  they  surveyed  the  field  and 
the  situation  was  found  to  be  alarming. 

They  saw  the  most  fabulous  fortunes  ever  possessed  by  man, 
that  had  grown  from  nothing  in  less  than  twenty  years.  They 
saw  the  country  laced  with  a  network  of  railroads;  the  mines 
developing  at  a  raj)id  rate;  more  and  greater  manufactures  and 
shops  than  in  any  other  land;  millions  of  fresh  acres  opened  to 
the  plow  and  greater  evidences  of  a  country's  capacity  to  feed, 
clothe  and  house  a  great  population,  and  to  cluster  a,bout  each 
home  the  blessings  of  a  highly  civilized  life,  than  were  ever  en- 
joyed by  any  people  or  any  age.  But  they  saw  that  the  hand 
of  a  cunning  few  had  grasped  the  profits  of  a,ll  industry,  and  that 
the  most  gigancic  monopolies  that  ever  existed,  held  with  a  firm 
grip  the  political  and  industrial  forces  of  the  nation. 

They  saw  the  great  mills,  factories  and  shops,  stilled  more 
than  ha^f  the  year,  and  the  men  turned  from  employment  empty- 
handed.  They  saw  our  commerce  on  the  seas  annihilated;  the 
circulating  medium  contracted  and  controlled  by  bankers  and 
speculators;  the  farms  plastered  over  with  mortgages;  agriculture 
prostrate;  the  public  lands  owned  by  a  few  favorites;  competi- 
tion abolished  and  prices  set  by  congressional  enactments;  the 
industrial  centers  filled  with  cheap  labor  imported  from  Europe 
to  take  the  place  of  American  labor;  great  cattle  syndicates  driv- 
ing off  actual  settlers  with  the  people's  a,rmy;  and  monopoly 
choosing  senators,  bribing  congressmen,  moulding  courts  and  leg- 
islatures and  absolutely  owning  the  leaders  of  all  political  par- 
ties. They  saw  millions  of  acres  of  unoccupied  land,  where  man 
never  stood;  elevators  bursting  with  their  weight,  a,nd  bread  ma- 
terial rotting,  unsold;  great  warehouses  filled  with  soft  woolens, 
decaying  from  moth,  mould  and  time.  They  saw,  too,  thousands 
of  families  starving  for  lack  of  bread,  freezing  for  lack  of  cloth- 
ing, and  roaming  disconsolate  without  a,  home,  not  able  to  buy 
land  enough  on  which  to  dig  a  grave.  They  saw  honest  industry 
die  from  want,  in  the  very  shadow  of  the  palace  erected  from  the 
profits  of  its  toil.  They  saw  public  opinion  so  debauched  by  the 
corrupt  use  of  monopoly  power,  that  wealth  had  become  the  only 
ba,dge  of  social  distinction,  and  the  man  who  did  not  enrich  him- 


—29— 

self  trom  public  office  was  considered  little  above  a  dunce.  They 
saw  the  "free  ballot"  cast  by  the  power  of  bribery  or  intimida- 
tion. They  saw  rural  districts  retrograding,  and  small  towns  de- 
caying, while  great  cities  grew  with  wondrous  rapidity,  and  they 
sa,w  them  the  centers  of  opulence  and  power  and  activity  and 
anxiety  and  idleness  and  discontent  and  sedition  and  conspiracy 
and  danger.  They  saw  a  thousand  things,  too  terrible  for  re- 
cital, yet  too  cruel  for  silence.  They  heard  humanity  protest  and 
justice  demand  relief,  but  they  sa.w  the  prince  of  monopoly  turn 
away  with  a  sneer,  as  he  muttered,  "the  people  be  damned."  They 
sa,w  less  than  a  dozen  men  control  the  price  of  all  commodities, 
by  setting  prices  on  freights;  eleven  control  the  price  of  steel 
and  iron;  twenty  the  price  of  glass;  a  few,  that  off  coal;  forty  or 
fifty  of  lumber;  fifteen  of  nails;  and  the  price  of  nearly  every 
necessity  heldf  in  the  iron  grip  of  these  monster  monopolies, 
whose  vast  powers  are  given  them,  as  especial  favors  from  the 
great  government. 

In  no  country  on  earth  does  a  smaller  number  control  the 
conditions  under  which  all  must  live.  When  we  calmly  consider 
that  but  a  few  years  ago,  this  whole  continent,  with  its  boundless 
wealth,  in  soil  and  mines  and  forests  and  minerals,  belonged  to 
the  people,  and  then  reflect  that  now  it  is  chiefly  owned  by  a 
few,  ajid  absolutely  controlled  by  monopolists,  by  whose  grace 
these  "sovereign  people"  must  live,  what  an  empty,  boasting 
mockery  seems  our  "immortaj"  Declaration  of  Independence.  If 
"all  powers  are  derived  from  the  people,"  what  stupendous  dunces 
these  people  have  been;  for  I  assert  that  they  have  lost,  yielded 
or  voluntarily  surrendered  more  of  their  "natural  rights,"  a.nd 
the  rights  and  privileges  bequeathed  to  them  by  God  and  the 
valor  of  our  ancestors,  in  twenty  years,  than  were  ever  wrested 
from  a  people,  in  a  century,  by  the  strongest  army  ever  mar- 
shaled. 

Never,  in  all  the  chilling  history  of  the  world,  did  barbarous 
ambition  win  more  by  the  sword,  than  has  the  cunning  aristo- 
crat snatched  from  this  generation,  and  never  wore  monarch 
more  despotic  power  than  is  wielded  by  the  monopolists  of 
America  today. 

Contemplating  this  alarming  condition  of  Affairs,  the  world 


—30— 

is  shocked  at  the  sight,  and  the  chai^,  having  come  with  such 
graceful  rapidity,  seems  but  the  substance  of  a  dream. 

These  observers  saw  the  richest  mines,  quarries  and  forests 
in  the  universe,  with  the  exhaustless  ra,w  material  scarce  half 
explored,  while  the  most  active,  intelligent  and  industrious  class 
of  workingmen  who  ever  blessed  the  world  with  their  efforts, 
were  roaming  idly  over  the  country,  because  the  laws  of  a  gov- 
ernment "of  the  people,  by  the  people  and  for  the  people," 
had  ceded  these  bounties  of  nature  to  a  favored  few,  with  whom 
all  must  bargain  for  a.  chance  to  live.  They  saw  millions  of  broad, 
fertile  acres,  where  civilized  man  never  set  a  foot;  yet  millions 
of  homeless  people  are  crowded  in  dingy,  stifling  tenements  or 
damp  huts  in  the  cheap  quarters  of  great  "labor  centers,"  and 
forbidden  to  breathe  the  free  prairie  air,  because  a  government 
"of  the  people,  by  the  people  and  fot  the  people,"  had  ceded  the 
vast  domain  to  the  wealthy  few,  who  own  the  mines,  the  forests 
and  the  dark  tenements,  and  the  dirt  where  the  hovel  stands. 
They  saw  the  country  so  full  of  products  necessary  for  man's  use, 
that  a.  cry  of  "over-production"  was  heard,  because  the  wares 
could  not  be  sold,  yet  thousands  upon  thousands  suffered  the 
most  terrible  agony,  being  unable  to  procure  these  necessaries  of 
life,  because  a  government  "of  the  people,  by  the  people  and  for 
the  people"  h»d  given  the  few  favorites  a  monopoly,  and  enabled 
them  to  control  all  goods  and  a.11  prices.  They  saw  agriculture 
crushed,  the  farm  products  unsold,  the  farms  mortgaged  to  se- 
cure a  14%  loan  to  some  "Eastern  capitalist,"  because  the  great 
government  "of  the  people,  by  the  people  and  for  the  people," 
loaned  its  money  at  1%  to  the  great  bankers,  that  they  might 
fleece  and  pauperize  the  public.  They  saw  the  most  skillful  and 
patient  industry  that  ever  sweat  under  the  lash,  gradually  yield 
to  poverty,  while  a  few  'soft-handed  idlers,  conningly  contrived 
to  appropriate  the  profits  of  all  industry  and  revel  in  the  most 
gorgeous  wealth  and  splendor,  because  a  government  "of  the  peo- 
ple, by  the  people  and  for  the  people,"  had  formed  a  partnership 
with  the  aristocracy,  and  mortgaged  the  future  efforts  of  the 
American  people  to  a  syndicate  of  monopolists. 

Then  it  occurred  to  these  thoughful  men  to  inquire  how  such 
things  could  be.  How  came  the  home  of  intelligent  industry  to 
be  destitute,  if  indeed,  not  in  want  or  absolute  misery,  while  the 


who  never  enriched  the  world  as  much  as  a  grain  of  corn, 
live  in  princely  splendor?     How  came  agriculture,  in  so  fertile 
and  easily  cultivated  soil,  to  be  sunk  to  bankruptcy  and  despair, 
hile  millions  are  starving  for  its  products? 

La,bor  produced  this  wealth — more  wealth  than  exists  in  any 
er  country.  But  those  who  produced  it  do  not  enjoy  it,  while 
those  who  produce  nothing  own  and  enjoy  all.  How  came  those 
who  earned  it  to  dispossess  themselves  of  it?  How  came  those 
who  never  enriched  the  earth  with  a  drop  of  sweat,  to  possess 
and  rule  the  whole?  By  what  means  may  property  be  acquired? 


—32— 


Tllllll 


CHAPTER  VL 

METHODS  OF  ACQUIRING  PROPERTY. 

HE  acquisition  of  property,  or  as  it  is  commonly 
termed,  "making  money,"  ha.s  become  the  ruling  pas- 
sion of  our  age.  While  every  civilization  has  been 
largely  influenced  by  an  ambitious  class,  who  were 
afflicted  with  an  itching  palm,  it  is  doubtful  if  any 
age  ever  entered  into  so  mad  a  scramble  for  ga,in,  or 
paid  more  earnest  homage  to  the  man  of  cash  than 
ours.  The  times  kneel  at  the  shrine  of  wealth  and 
among  all  the  worshipers  of  the  "golden  calf  there 
is  not  one  hypocrite. 

The  causes  for  this  seemingly  strange  condition 
are  not  remote.  The  successful  development  of  America  ushered 
in  a  ulitaria,n  age.  We  had  a  most  abundant  and  most  accessible 
stock  of  raw  material.  That  which  we  had  seen  give  place  and 
honor  and  power  in  other  lands,  here  waited  appropriation.  For- 
tunes were  easily  and  rapidly  made,  and  as  easily  and  rapidly 
dissipated.  Wealth  crowned  the  efforts  of  activity,  push,  energy, 
shrewdness,  and  a  lax  regard  for  the  old-time  notions  of  honor 
and  propriety.  Though  in  our  country  wealth  was  more  easily 
acquired,  the  same  honor,  dignity  and  applause  followed  its  pos- 
session. 

The  severity  of  climate  made  property  a  greater  convenience, 
If  indeed  not  a  greater  necessity,  than  in  other  countries.  While 
we  are  young  as  compared  with  others,  we  are  the  richest  nation 
on  ea,Tth.  Our  progress  has  no  parallel  in  history.  I  will  not 
philosophize  on  the  definitions  of  value,  wealth,  property,  etc., 
but  discourse  on  those  tangible  things,  such  as  houses,  fields, 
shops,  factories,  mills,  wares,  and  valuable  goods,  and  the  thou- 
sands of  articles  produced  by  the  genius,  or  labor  of  man,  and 
which  administer  to  his  wajits,  or  contribute  to  his  happiness, 


—33— 

d  are  called,  indiscriminately,  property,  and  reason  about  how 
ch  things  may  be  honestly  acquired. 

The  wealth  of  a  nation  is  the  aggregate  wealth  of  the  in- 
viduals  composing  the  nation,  plus  the  common  property,  such 
as  public  buildings,  equipments,  lands,  etc.,  and  consists  in  the 
total  accumulated  earnings  of  the  whole  people. 

The  profits  of  industry,  is  the  difference  between  the  value, 

established  by  the  ruling  selling  price  of  like  property  and 
the  cost  of  production;  and  the  net  earnings  of  a  person  or  a 
people,  is  the  surplus  of  production  over  consumption;  sa,ve  what 
political  economists  call  the  "unearned  increment,"  that  is,  the 
rise  in  land  values. 

Three  factors,  or  ingredients,  enter  into  the  construction,  or 
make-up,  of  nearly  all  articles  known  as  property,  viz.,  labor, 
capita.1— accumulated  labor,  or  its  fruits— and  material.  In  early 
America,  material  being  practically  free,  awakened  all  the  latent 
energies  of  man,  and  its  being  so  abundant  and  Accessible,  labor 
was  the  chief  factor  in  production.  To  nature,  which  aroused 
the  grandest  energies,  and  labor,  guided  by  the  brightest  genius, 
we  are  indebted  for  all  the  vast  wealth  of  which  this  vain  gen- 
eration boasts. 

The  $40,000,000,000  worth  of  property  "on  hand,"  gives  us  the 
proud  title  of  the  "richest  nation  on  earth."  Truly  our  prosperity 
has  been  phenomenal.  This  vast  sum,  if  equally  divided,  would 
give  every  person  in  the  nation  $800,  surely  a  handsome  little 
sum;  but  this  dissolving  appearance,  bringing  the  figures  in  reach 
of  our  comprehension,  detracts  from  the  grandeur  of  the  contem- 
plation. Remember,  too,  this  magnificent  sum  is  the  total  fruits 
of  two  hundred  and  eighty  year's  earnings. 

But  further,  God  Almighty  gave  us,  demanding  not  a  penny, 
not  the  earnings  of  a  day,  a  continent,  with  the  most  boundless 
natural  resources,  consisting  of  soil,  forests,  mines,  etc.,  that  we 
might  simply  come  and  possess.  This  vast  store  of  raw  material 
was  marked  0,  in  beginning  our  fortune.  But  remember,  further 
still,  that  75%  of  the  great  wealth  of  which  we  boast,  is  in  land 
values,  not  produced  by  man's  labor,  or  genius,  or  enterprise,  but 
by  his  desire  or  necessities.  This  va,st  accumulation  has  not 
been  an  "accumulation"  at  all,  but  a  mere  marking  up  of  the 
goods,  and  leaves  us,  as  the  net  earnings  of  two  hundred  and 


—34— 

eighty  years,  with  all  these  grand  opportunities,  in  tangible  prop- 
erty, less  than  $10,000,000,000,  or  $200  per  capita.  This  invites  a 
still  further  scrutiny.  Our  people  have  brought  much  "prop- 
erty," money,  etc.,  from  abroad,  besides  the  strongest  hands  and 
bravest  hearts  that  ever  invaded  a  land. 

Let  us  think.  I  am  not  going  into  details,  for  I  am  writing 
a  book  of  ideas,  and  not  general  statistics,  but  let  us  reason.  Now 
for  at  least  sixteen  years,  a,n  average  of  50,000,000  people  have 
been  exerting  an  influence  on  this  "common  stock"  of  goods. 
For  thirty  years  there  has  been  an  average  of  40,000,000,  and  for 
a  hundred  years  there  has  been  close  to  an  average  of  15,000,000 
of  people.  Then  our  ancestors  had  been  "piling  up"  from  the 
most  abundant  and  free  raw  materials,  and  furnishing  to  the  Old 
World  for  one  hundred  and  eighty  yea,rs  longer. 

Reckoning  from  the  census  valuation  of  tangible  goods,  a 
careful  study  of  the  case  will  reveal  the  fact  that  the  average  net 
earnings  or  accumulations,  a,bove  consumption,  for  the  whole  peo- 
ple, has  been  less — leaving  out,  as  I  remarked  before,  the  "mark- 
ing up"  of  land  values — than  five  dollars  a  year,  per  capita,.  This 
seems  a  startling  assertion,  but  the  reader  will  find  much  pleas- 
ure and  profit  in  a  careful  study  of  the  ca.se.  Remember,  I  say 
the  net  earnings,  or  the  accumulative  power  of  labor,  during  our 
whole  history,  has  been  less  than  five  dollars  per  year  per  capita, 
aside  from  rise  in  land  values,  which  man  does  not  earn. 

Seeing  the  necessary  consumption  keeping  so  close  company 
with  the  powers  of  production,  reminds  us  of  how  small  a  tax  or 
tribute,  levied  on  the  producing  class  would  drain  the  whole 
profits  in  a  foreign  channel.  If  there  was  a  profit  in  every  indus- 
trial effort,  and  the  earnings  carefully  saved  and  accumulated, 
there  could  be  no  poverty  among  the  workers,  but  it  is  equally 
plain  that  there  could  be  no  great  fortunes. 

Here  is  a  good  place  to  remark,  that  God  never  planted  a 
colony  of  his  children  on  any  spot  on  earth,  with  a.  sufficient 
severity  of  climate  to  permit  the  rearing  of  a  grand  civilization, 
where  the  labor  of  all  adult  males  was  not  needed,  a  fair  num- 
ber of  hours  per  day,  tha,t  the  whole  population  might  be  provided 
for. 

So  varied  and  complex  are  man's  necessities  and  desires  in 
a  civilized  state,  and  rude  nature  having  left  so  many  difficulties 


—35— 

to  help  in  man's  development,  and  the  fact  that  most  workers 
have  wives,  children,  parents,  or  other  dependents  to  consume  of 
their  earnings,  that  legitimate  accumulations  from  toil,  are  of 
slow  growth,  and  great  wealth,  impossible. 

j-nen,  if  you  will  show  me  a  place  Anywhere  on  earth,  with 
fair  severity  of  climate,  fair  soil  and  fruits,  and  depending  chiefly 
upon  domestic  commerce  or  trade  for  prosperity,  where  inactivity 
prospers  and  idleness  lives  in  luxury,  I  will  show  you  where  ac- 
tivity develops  only  in  cunning,  and  industry  starves  in  wretch- 
edness. Show  me  a  place  where  grea,t  fortunes  are  accumulated, 
and  I  will  show  you  where  the  great  masses  are  sinking  with  the 
same  rapidity,  into  poverty.  Show  me  a  place  where  great  pal- 
aces are  being  reared,  with  golden  domes  a,nd  gorgeous  furniture, 
and  I  will  show  you  in  the  very  shadow  of  this  princely  mansion, 
where  gaunt  poverty  dies  for  bread. 

It  must  be  so,  for  man's  earnings  at  best,  above  his  necessi- 
ties, are  meagre,  and  to  ma,ke  a  few  rich  who  do  not  toil,  a  great 
many  who  do,  must  surrender  a  part  of  their  earnings. 

Suppose  there  are  a  million  men  in  a  colony.  They  earn  one 
lollar  per  day — and  there  is  no  other  means  of  producing  weajth 
— and  suppose  one  idle  man  in  one  day  acquires  a  million;  it  is 
very  plain  that  the  others  are  robbed.  Or,  suppose  they  continue 
to  produce  a  dollar's  worth,  each,  per  day,  and  consume  three- 
fourths  of  it.  It  is  plain  if  the  worker  retained  the  25%  that  no 
worker  would  be  poor;  but,  it  is  also  plain  that  no  idler  could  be- 
come rich.  But,  suppose  by  some  "patriotic"  jugglery,  a,  custom 
prevailed,  or  a  law  be  passed,  taxing  labor  this  25%,  that  a  few 
may  be  benefited;  it  is  plain  that  labor  would  remain  poor,  and 
idleness,  or  cunning  become  rich. 

To  raise  this  tribute  above  the  profits,  soon  produces  destitu- 
-  tion,  want  and  misery  in  the  homes  of  industry,  and  as  rapidly 
enriches  the  favored  few.  Continuing  this  policy,  the  great  mass 
of  laboring  men  will  feel  the  influence — for  a  single  groan  of  mis- 
ery or  a  single  tear,  affects  to  that  extent  the  happiness  of  human- 
ity— ajid,  gradually  becomes  unable  to  purchase  necessities;  this 
affects  a.11  producers,  and  soon  there  is  an  "over-production," 
lockouts  and  starvation.  Then,  whenever  you  see  a  few,  who  do 
not  produce,  grow  rich,  if  you  will  look  around,  you  will  see  the 
marks  of  poverty  on  other  doors,  This  result  is  inevitable, 


—36— 

Wealth,  or  property,  then  comes  from  the  accumulative  earn- 
ings of  the  workers,  ajid  when  you  reflect  how  slowly  the  profits, 
or  sum  produced  or  earned  over  consumption,  accumulates,  it  is 
easy  to  see  how  small  a  tribute,  tax  or  class  interest  distribution, 
would  turn  the  whole  current  of  profits  into  one  central  channel. 
When  the  net  earnings  of  the  most  ''prosperous  people  on  earth" 
have  been  but  five  dollars  per  capita,,  per  year,  think  how  many 
of  the  "common  herd"  must  be  robbed  to  build  up  one  million- 
aire. 

Practically,  there  are  but  three  methods  of  acquiring  prop- 
erty, viz.,  by  earning,  by  inheriting,  and  by  robbing.  Then,  when 
you  find  a  dollar,  or  a  million  dollars,  in  the  possession  of  a  per- 
son who  neither  earned  it  nor  inherited  it,  you  have  unmistakable 
evidence  that  somebody  has  been  robbed. 

The  soil  is  the  primary  source,  the  fountain  of  all  property, 
all  wealth  and  all  value.  Of  course,  there  is  much  wealth  that 
has  little  or  none  of  the  earthly  ingredients,  but  all  a,re  measured 
by,  or  made  valuable  by  reason  of  this  primary  source. 

If  there  was  a  plan  in  creation,  it  must  have  been  designed 
that  the  earth,  with  its  vast  and  varied  supplies,  should  be  the 
store  house  of  raw  material  from  which  all  must  live,  and  as  a 
necessary  corollary,  its  freedom  of  access  to  each  should  be  co- 
equal witii  the  rights  of  all  others.  The  right  exists,  a,nd  if  jus- 
tice prevailed,  the  privilege  of  every  man  to  appropriate  as  much 
of  the  general  stock  as  his  needs  or  desires  required,  only  limited 
by  the  rights  of  others,  would  be  granted  and  practiced.  Labor 
fashioned  a.11  property,  all  wealth  from  the  soil,  and  had  the  first 
claim  upon  its  title,  or  ownership.  All  property  is  the  earnings 
of  labor,  and  came  primarily  from  the  soil.  In  all  civilized  coun- 
tries where  the  arts  of  production  have  been  specialized,  there  is 
needed  a  joint  action,  or  co-operation,  to  cajry  on  all  great  in- 
dustries. 

In  an  enterprise  or  industry  requiring  such  joint  action  of 
active  labor  and  capital — or  accumulated  labor — the  just  earnings 
of  ea,ch  factor  in  the  productive  force  should  be  a  pro  rata  divis- 
ion proportional  to  investment.  Nearly  all  industrial  enterprises 
are  carried  on  by  some  such  joint  arrangement,  usually,  the  party 
furnishing  the  capital,  or  passive  labor,  guiding  the  industry  a,nd 
making  the  terms  on  which  the  work  is  to  be  carried  on, 


—37— 


: 


In  the  division  of  earnings  in  such  enterprises,  'necessity  and 
not  justice,  has  prescribed  the  share  of  labor.    As  so  great  a  per 
cent  of  labor's  products  are  consumed  and  the  accumulations  so 
ow,  but  few  countries  have  a  supply  of  stored  labor,  or  capital, 
ual  to  the  supply  of  active  capital,  or  labor,  consequently,  in 
enterprises  requiring  great  capital,   labor  is  at  a  disadvantage, 
hen,  too,  even  when  the  passive  capital  is  equal  to  the  other  fac- 
r  in  amount,  it  is  always  manipulated  by  so  few  that  it  ha,s  the 
power,  usually,  to  make  terms.     The  cruelest     tyrant     oftenest 
talks  of  justice  and  mercy,  and  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest 
number  ha.s  been  the  basic  idea  of  all  governments,  yet  this  in- 
ustice  prevails  everywhere. 

Labor  has  never  yet  had  an  opinion,  as  the  cunning  have  al- 
ays  formulated  the  social  and  political  creeds;  so  a  discriminat- 
g  custom  has  grown  up,  in  the  manner  of  distributing  the  profits 
f  labor,  against  which  the  toiler  has  never  protested,  because 
cient  usage  has  confirmed  the  prevailing  practice.     This  cus- 
m  was  inaugurated  by  the  cunning  few,  who  had  first  contrived 
appropriate  the  accumulated  earnings,  then  enforced  the  prac- 
ce  with  the  sword,  then  had    it    enacted  into  law  by  a,  set  of 
sycophantic  tools. 

I  protest  against  deifying  cash,  and  demonetizing  man;  against 
exalting  the  products  of  labor,  and  degrading  the  laborer;  against 
adoring  the  created  and  tearing  from  his  glorious  throne,  the 
creator.  I  insist  that  a  brave,  industrious  man,  farmer,  mechanic 
r  laborer,  who  lives  and  loves,  and  dares  the  difficulties  that  gave 
im  strong  hands  and  a  true  heart,  is  as  good  as  a  pile  of  yellow 
gold,  or  a  package  of  bonds,  and  that  in  every  industry  requiring 
dead  capital,  and  living  cajpital: — cash  and  labor — the  man  should 
be  considered  the  more  important  element  and  the  obliging  party. 
This  would  be  true,  too,  were  it  not  for  the  popular  crimes  of 
those  who  have  appropriated  the  profits  of  toil,  in  appropriating 
the  soil  of  the  ea,rth,  which  no  one  can  create  or  earn. 

I  protest  against  the  refined  brutality  that  excuses  enforced 
idleness  and  its  concomitants,  misery,  starvation  and  shame,  by 
arguing  that  "the  price  of  labor  must  be  regulated  by  the  law  of 
supply  and  demand."  It  is  resurrecting  the  savagery  of  the  lash, 
for  when  my  labor  must  sell  like  corn  and  cattle,  to  the  highest 
bidder,  I  am  on  the  auction  block,  and  the  man  who  shouts  "lib- 


—38— 

erty"  in  my  ears,  mocks  my  wretchedness.  We  excuse  this  crime, 
because  we  sanction  the  monopoly  of  the  world,  from  which  all 
must  live,  and  which  compels  us  to  compromise  with  some  gov- 
ernment favorite,  for  the  privilege  of  existing. 

But  this  false  education,  hoary  with  the  infamies  of  antiquity, 
must  yield,  for  the  dawn  of  a  higher  law  has  come,  and  if  reason 
and  patriotism  assert  their  power,  soon  every  intelligent  ^on  of 
God  will  demand  a  right  to  live  in  a  world  where  he  was  placed, 
without  compromising  all  the  pleasures  of  home,  of  luxury,  of 
liberty,  of  pride,  or  being  forced  to  carry  the  burdens  of  some 
local  magnate  for  the  precious  privilege  of  "staying,"  where  he 
should  enjoy  the  fruits  of  a  grand  ma.nhood. 

Think  of  the  sublime  doctrines  of  the  immortal  Declaration 
of  Independence,  about  "equality,"  "inalienable  rights,"  liberty 
to  "pursue  happiness,"  and  then  think  of  a  strong,  grand  man, 
with  callous  hands,  bronze  cheeks,  strong  hea,rt,  and  muscles  like 
hickory  withes,  the  husband  of  one  wife  and  the  father  of  thir- 
teen grown  children — all  girls — uncovering  his  noble  head  end 
begging  of  some  little  dapper  fellow,  who  never  added  a  ce.nt  to 
the  world's  wealth,  wearing  a  No.  5  boot  and  a,  No.  5^  hat,  for 
the  privilege  of  cultivating  a  vacant  spot  oi  ground,  a  thousand 
miles  away,  or  that  the  pale  little  gentleman  should  ajlow  him 
to  work  an  "out-cropping"  coal  vein,  that  he  might  drive  the 
chilling  blasts  of  winter  from  the  door. 

Too  many  people,  chiefly  those  termed  the  "working  class," 
take  too  narrow  a  view  of  the  question,  when  considering  the  pro- 
ductive force  of  a  nation  or  country,  holding  that  all  property 
resulted  from  physical  effort.  Primarily,  this  is  true,  but  with 
so  many  qualifying  phrases,  as  to  leave  it  safe  to  say  that  me 
physical  force  which  wrought,  would  have  been  helpless  without 
many  extraneous  influences,  a,s  no  people  on  earth  ever  put  so 
much  brain  into  the  work  of  production  as  the  American  people. 
The  planner,  the  contriver,  the  overseer,  the  great  active  mer- 
chant and  trading  class,  the  carriers,  the  writers,  speakers,  plead- 
ers, tea,chers,  and  all  those  whose  mental  energies  were  exerted 
in  legitimate  callings,  were  as  necessary  to  the  success  of  physical 
energy  as  is  the  hand  to  the  body.  The  author  of  an  article  or 
book  which  instructed  a  thousand  mechanics  or  miners,  certainly 


—39— 


should  rank  ajnong  the  most  useful  of  wealth  producers,  and,  cer- 
tainly, has  well  earned  the  price  received  for  his  labor. 

To  make  a  people  intelligent  and  happy,  increases  their  use- 
fulness and  even  their  powers  of  production,  because  it  awakens 
greater  Activity  and  greater  desire;  so  a  person  who  delivers  an 
address  that  amuses,  instructs  or  happyfies  a  thousand  people, 
earns  his  wages,  because  he  has  contributed  to  the  necessities 
of  civilized  society.  Every  physical  or  intellectual  effort,  which 
contributes  to  the  general  good — or  to  private  good  if  it  does 
none  other  harm — which  increases  the  general  stock  of  food, 
clothing,  shelter,  etc.,  or  advances  intelligence,  happiness,  mor- 
ality, or  health,  has  a  value  proportionate  to  its  influence,  and 
the  operator  who  thus  adds  speed  or  spirit  to  the  energies  or 
powers  of  others,  is  a  producer  of  wealth.  All  these  classes  are 
producers,  and,  in  the  specialized  industrial  system  of  our  com- 
plex society,  are  as  necessary  to  a  symmetrical  development  of 
our  civilization,  as  are  the  members  of  the  human  body  to  its 
grace  and  locomotion,  and  a.11  are  as  justly  entitled  to  a  fair  re- 
muneration for  their  contribution  to  the  general  fund,  as  the  maji 
who  raises  corn,  sells  muslin,  or  digs  coal.  Whatever  contributes 
to  the  refined  happiness  of  a  nation,  contributes  to  its  wealth; 
as  a  virtuous  and  happy  people  aj-e  more  sprightly,  ingenious, 
active  and  industrious;  and  hopes  and  desires  for  the  future  wel- 
fare of  loved  ones,  awakens  the  best  energies. 

A  claim  that  physical  la,bor  alone,  contributes  to  the  produc- 
tion of  wealth,  would  practically  dethrone  brain  and  bring  back 
barbarism.  The  great  steamer,  that  ta,kes  in  its  hold  the  products 
of  a  country,  and  turning  her  iron  prow  to  the  boisterous  waves 
and  fierce  lightnings  of  three  thousand  miles,  and  empties  her 
rich  cargo  into  the  great  "soup-dish"  that  feeds  a,  hungry  world, 
first  moved  in  the  fertile,  but  weary  brain  of  Pulton.  The  dash- 
ing, rumbling  train,  that  spins  across  the  continent  at  fifty  miles 
an  hour,  first  whistled  "down-brakes"  in  the  brain  of  the  great 
Scotchman.  They  did  not  bolt  down  the  steel  ribs,  nor  shovel 
gravel  on  the  western  road-bed;  but  who  contributed  more  to 
these  valuable  industrial  agencies?  Whitney  and  Hargraves.  in 
whose  brains  were  fashioned  the  warp  and  woof  of  humanity's 
new  uniform,  if  ta,ken  from  the  world's  producers,  would  leave 
a  wretchedness — the  very  picture  of  famine.  Such  men  must  be 


new   uni 
a  wretcl 


—40— 

styled  workers — wealth  producers  of  the  grandest  type.  Few 
men,  indeed,  of  exalted  talent,  have  ever  become  wealthy,  whose 
energies  were  devoted  to,  the  development  of  industrial  forces, 
or  the  betterment  of  humanity. 

There  is  another  error  common  among  a  sma.ll  class,  whose 
powers  of  discrimination  are,  unfortunately,  abnormal,  and  that 
is,  in  a  belief  that  all  wealthy  men  are  "sharpers"  a,nd  have  pos- 
sessed their  property  by  devious  means.  While  it  is  true  that 
every  dollar  possessed  by  the  idler — not  inherited — has  been  filched 
from  the  hand  of  industry,  and  every  dollar  which  any  man  ap- 
propriajes  to  his  own  use,  or  gains  and  controls,  more  than  he 
has  contributed  to  the  general  fund,  is  robbery;  there  are  many 
persons  of  considerable  fortune,  whose  honest  energy  has  en- 
riched the  world  as  much  in  proportion  to  what  he  possesses,  as 
the  man  who  guides  the  plane  or  the  plow. 

The  manufacturer  who  builds  a  mill  and  furnishes  goods  to 
his  community,  cheaper  by  the  difference  in  high  freights  a^nd 
profits  of  middle  men,  may  become  wealthy,  while  all  who  pat- 
ronize him  will  share  proportionately  in  his  prosperity.  He  has 
"earned  his  money"  and  merits  respect  for  his  enterprise. 

A  merchant  or  trader  may  explore  the  world  and  bring  to 
his  customers  the  things  which  necessity  or  desire  prompts  them 
to  purchase,  and  by  a  careful  system  of  exchange,  he  may  furnish 
them  these  fabrics  much  cheaper  than  they  could  otherwise  ob- 
tain them.  In  a  long  course  of  business  years  the  merchant  may 
become  wealthy,  and  while  he  has  been  accumulating,  he  has  en- 
a.bled  his  customers  also,  to  accumulate,  to  the  extent  that  they 
were  benefited  by  the  cheapness  of  his  goods,  or  the  convenience 
of  their  possession.  Then  in  a  broad  country,  with  many  re- 
sources and  many  wants,  individual  wealth  is  no  evidence  of  in- 
dividual depravity. 

Rare  intellectual  force,  combined  with  great  physical  indus- 
try, is  usually  productive  of  fruitful  results,  when  directed  to  a, 
fixed  and  determined  purpose,  though  confined  to  business  of  the 
strictest  legitimacy,  and  very  often  the  interests  of  a  whole  com- 
munity are  advanced  by  the  success  of  persons  of  such  qualities. 

Mr.  Louis  Harbach,  of  our  own  city— Des  Moines,  Iowa— is 
a  notable  example  of  the  class  under  consideration.  He  began 
but  a  few  years  ago,  with  small  means;  but  he  possessed  an 


Lie 


—41— 

ctive  brain,  a  shrewd  discriminating  mind,  while  early  necessi- 
ties gave  him  vigorous  health  and  untiring  industry.  He  in- 
tuitively knew  people;  he  studied  the  tastes  of  the  times;  he  at- 
tended strictly  to  his  own  business,  and  never  for  a  moment  for- 
got to  be  a  gentleman.  While  he  knew  just  what  "the  trade" 
wanted,  he  constantly  kept  a  little  in  advance,  "coaxing"  the 
public  to  a  higher  ideal  in  his  "line."  Knowing  what  was  de- 
manded, he  knew  just  what  and  where  and  when  to  purchase. 
His  promise  was  a  bond;  his  word  a  guarantee;  and  the  con- 
stant growth  of  his  business  was  never  once  checked  by  the  cold 
breath  of  suspicion.  From  a  few  dollars,  he  has  become  one  of 
the  most  wealthy  men  of  the  state.  From  a  small  shop,  he  has 
erected  the  finest  buildings  in  the  city  and  has  the  most  extensive 
and  valuable  stock  in  "his  line,"  in  the  West.  By  this  one  man's 
industry  and  enterprise,  ten  thousand  Iowa  cottages  and  man- 
sions are  more  beautifully  and  more  cheaply  furnished;  and  by 
his  taste  ten  thousand  homes  are  more  refined  and  happy.  He 
has  "earned  his  money." 

The  "State  Register"  newspaper  is  another  notable  example 
how  persons  of  great  intellect,  combined  with  courageous  in- 
dustry, may  build  a  private  fortune,  while  benefiting  those  who 
contribute  to  its  success.  Mr.  J.  S.  Clarkson,  "the  responsible 
editor,"  has  an  intellect  as  ponderous  as  a  "Cunarder,"  with  an 
ambition  that  yields  to  no  toil,  a,n  energy  as  savage  as  a  Comanche 
chief,  and  he  has  thrown  himself  and  his  whole  powers  in  the 
building  of  his  business.  His  ambition  was  a  grand  one,  for  he 
based  his  hopes  of  success  upon  merit.  The  determination  of  his 
existence  was  to  make  his  paper  the  best  and  cheapest  newspaper 
in  the  West,  and  the  dreams  of  his  life  have  been  accomplished. 
He  has  helped,  with  his  own  fortune,  to  build  the  city,  and  the 
state,  and  contributed  to  the  happiness  and  intelligence  of  the 
people.  He  has  "ea,rned  his  money." 

There  are  many  such  persons  who,  by  rare  talent,  industry 
and  close  attention  to  one  business,  have  built  up,  what  in  the 
West,  is  considered  a  comfortable,  or  handsome  fortune,  while 
benefiting  their  whole  surroundings. 

There  is  a  growing  tendency  among  those  who  will  not  dis- 
criminate, to  class  ajl  persons  of  wealth  with  monopolists, 


—42— 

• 

sharpers  and  tricksters.  This  is  as  ungenerous  in  its  practice 
as  false  in  its  inference. 

But  we  may  remember,  that  among  this  useful  class,  com- 
paratively rich,  there  are  no  millionaires.  "Millions"  a,re  not 
made  in  this  way,  and  if  a  person  engaged  in  these  productive 
pursuits  become  such,  you  may  be  sure  he  has  been  in 
"outside  speculations,"  and  had  a  "corner"  on  somebody  or  some- 
thing. 

In  our  new  country,  with  no  la,ws  of  entail  or  primogeniture, 
there  are  comparatively  few  fortunes  inherited,  so,  most  of  the 
wealth  possessed  by  private  persons,  is  either  the  result  of  in- 
dustry and  should  be  denominated  earnings,  or  the  result  of 
"sharpness"  and  should  be  designated  robbery. 

There  are  many  ways  by  which  a  person  may  honestly  a,c- 
quire  a  competence,  and  many  ways  by  which  a  person  may  hon- 
estly acquire  a  colossal  fortune. 

Wealth  acquired  honestly,  comes  gradually,  and  is  the  result 
of  economy  and  wisely-directed  industry.  The  work  of  such  ac- 
cumulations usually  exalts  honesty,  strengthens  character  and 
refines  morals. 

I  have  reviewed  the  methods  by  which  property  may  be 
earned,  but  the  UNEARNED  fortunes  are  so  numerous  and  stu- 
pendous a,s  to  call  for  some  consideration  of  their  growth,  and 
the  sources  from  which  they  have  sprung. 

Syndicates,  or  persons  who  buy  the  law,  that  gives  them  a 
monopoly  of  the  nation's  trade,  and  saves  a  few  from  the  com- 
petition of  enterprising  traders  and  enables  them  to  demand  an 
advanced  price  from  all  the  people,  while  permitted  to  bring  the 
cheapest  labor  from  the  over-crowded  herds  of  Europe  to  per- 
form the  physical  tasks,  do  not  "earn  their  money."  As  com- 
petition is  the  life  of  trade,  or  commerce,  and  commerce  the  basis 
of  civilization,  he  who  checks  competition  assassinates  civiliza- 
tion and  calls  barbarism  from  the  cemeteries  of  the  yast,  to  re- 
habilitate the  world  with  poverty,  fear  and  tears.  The  tact  chat 
the  operations  were  "sanctioned  by  law,"  only  changes  the  legal 
aspect  of  the  offense,  for  it  is  robbery  still,  and  shows  the  per- 
sua,sive  force  of  the  shrewd  man  of  cash. 

The  man  or  combination,  that  plans  a  "corner"  on  stocks,  and 
"scoops  in  a  cool  million,"  while  fleecing  a  thousand  other  reck- 


less  gamblers,  does  not  earn  the  money.  Though  many  of  the 
losers  may  deserve  no  better  fate,  society  has  been  robbed,  for 
behind  all  this  shajn  and  worthless  trash,  made  marketable,  thpro 
is  a  class  of  innocents  to  bear  the  weight  of  the  polished  and  fash- 
onable  crime. 

A  great  syndicate  tha,t  squeezes  a  railroad,  throws  ft  into  the 

ands  of  a  receiver,  or  buys  it  on  a  fraudulent  mortgage  at  ten 

cents   on    the   dollar,    issues   to    the    members    of    the    combina- 

ion  five  times  the  value  in  stock,  makes  a  show  of  improvement 

nd  sells  the  worthless  shares  to  the  people  at  pa,r,  do  not  earn 

earn  its  money;   it  gains  simply  by  robbery. 

A  telegraph  company,  with  rights  to  a  schedule  of  charges 
that  will  insure  a  profit  of  10%,  that  'waters  the  stock"  up  to 
500%,  and  declares  dividends  on  capital  of  such  fluidity,  does  not 
earn  its  money;  it  gains  simply  by  robbery. 

Transportation  lines  that  reach   away   across   the  continent 
n  all  directions,  gathering  the  products  from  every  climate  and 
il;    which,  by  a  system  of  pooling,  gathers  the  profits  of  all 
reductive  industry,  do  not  earn  their  money;  they  gajn  by  sim- 
ple, legal  robbers. 

The  man  who  buys  a  vacant  piece  of  land  in  a  village  and 
allows  it  to  lay  unimproved,  a  waste  place  for  weeds  and  the 
emptying  pla.ce  for  offal,  until  the  village  becomes  a  town,  the 
town  a  city  and  the  city  a  metropolis,  does  not  earn  the  fortune, 
he  labor  and  enterprise  and  necessities  of  others  has  increased 
the  value  and  earned  what  he  by  law  possesses.  He  has  shirked 
action,  marred  the  beauty  of  the  town,  forced  a  different  growth 
f  the  city,  and  reaps  the  reward  of  an  industry  he  did  not  share, 
f  an  enterprise,  to  which  his  nature  was  a  stronger. 

Now,  the  $10,000,000,000  worth  of  tangible  wealth  or  prop- 
erty— aside  from  land  values — constitutes  the  net  earnings  of  a 
nation  for  two  hundred  and  eighty  years,  and  every  person  who 
produced  more  than  he  or  she  consumed,  ha,s  contributed  to  this 
total  fund,  and  every  person  who  has  taken  a  dollar  from  the 
total  earnings,  or  funds,  more  than  he  or  she  produced,  or  added 
to  it,  except  through  efforts  of  friends  or  ancestors,  has  wrong- 
fully taken  some  other's  share,  which  is,  practicably,  robbery. 
As  before  observed,  the  total  earnings — that  is,  the  $10,000,- 


—44— 

000,000— would  equal  $200  per  capita.  But  who  has  it?  The 
workers?  Those  who  have  earned  it? 

One  mild  mannered  gentleman  owns  $200,000,000.  This  equals 
the  share  of  one  million  people.  Thus,  either  one  million  people 
ha,ve  none,  or  many  have  less  than  their  proper  share.  Another 
gentleman  owns  an  equal  amount;  the  two  millionaires  have  more, 
and  many  have  less  than  their  share. 

A  good  authority  claims  that  one  thousand  men  own  and; 
control  one-ha,lf  the  entire  wealth  of  the  nation,  including  land 
values.  If  this  be  true,  one  thousand  men  own  half  the  earnings 
of  the  whole  Nation's  toil  for  two  hundred  and  eighty  years,  or 
twice  the  total  of  profits,  aside  from  land  values,  while  nearly 
sixty  million  people  own  the  other  half. 

How  came  they  by  it? 

Did  they  earn  it?  Seven  men  own  or  control  ajxmt  one- 
fiftieth  of  the  wealth  of  the  nation.  How  came  they  "by  it?  Not 
one  of  them  is  known  to  have  ever  produced  a  kernel  of  corn. 
At  the  rate  of  interest  paid  by  the  government,  it  would  require, 
not  the  profits,  but  the  entire  earnings,  at  average  rate  of  wages, 
of  twenty-six  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  men  to  pay  the 
interest  on  one  of  these  fortunes. 

Jay  Gould  "owns"  $200,000,000,  or  about  one-two-hundredth 
part  of  the  nation's  wealth,  and  to  pay  the  interest  at  the  rate 
demanded  by  his  railroads,  it  would  require  the  entire  wages  of 
an  a,rmy  of  workers  50,000  strong. 

How  did  he  get  it?  Did  he  earn  it?  Let's  see.  The  average 
wage-earner  receives  about  $300  per  annum,  or  $25  per  month,  or 
$1  per  working  day.  Now,  if  Jay  Gould  "earned"  that  "little  for- 
tune" at  the  average  rate,  he  must  be  over  SIX  HUNDRED  AND 
SIXTY  THOUSAND  YEARS  OLD,  and  if  he  earned  it  in  his 
twenty-five  years  of  active  life,  he  has  certainly  been  making  a 
"good  thing,"  for  it  would  amount  to  $8,000,000  per  year,  or  $26,- 
000  for  each  working  day.  Did  he  earn  it? 

I  am  not  ra,ving  at  Jay  Gould,  nor  denying  his  personal  hon- 
esty. He  may  be  no  worse  than  many  "Christian  gentlemen," 
but  I  am  showing  the  dangers  of  this  centralizing  policy,  and  that 
men  can  only  accumulate  such  fortunes  by  legal  larceny.  I  do 
not  denounce  men  for  following  out  a  policy  sanctioned  by  law, 
applauded  by  custom,  and  upheld  by  "common  consent;"  and  I 


tll( 

« 


have  no  respect  for  men  who  rave  at  Jay  Gold,  and  then  vote  in 
support  of  a  policy  that  has  crowned  him  the  most  colossal  rob- 
ber of  the  age. 

It  would  take  the  entire  earnings  of  six  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  men  a  whole  year,  to  earn  Jay  Gould's  fortune. 

Now,  a  great  majority  of  the  men  whose  labor  has  enriched 
is  modern  Croesus  and  his  ilk,  are  today  in  embarrased  circum- 
sta,nces,  or  poverty.  They  have  not  "lived  high,"  nor  dissipated, 
nor  been  needlessly  idle.  But  the  law  has  given  cunning,  the 
power  to  rob  the  honest,  credulous  toiler  and  producer.  The  in- 
fluence of  these  fabulous  fortunes  have  been  demoralizing  beyond 
all  computation.  All  over  the  land,  there  have  sprung  up  thou- 
sands whose  ambition  lead  them  to  ape  these  princely  men  and, 
by  the  most  corrupt  schemes  ever  known  to  civilization,  ha,ve 
strewn  the  country  with  wrecked  fortunes  and  blighted  hopes. 
I  can  understand  how  we  should  applaud  the  efforts  to  provide 
for  home  and  loved  ones;  but  why  we  bow  in  honor  to  the  hand 
of  avarice,  that  filches  from  patient  toil  its  only  comfort;  clutches 
the  bread-money  from  the  hand  and  leaves  homes  desolate,  hearts 
broken,  and  pure  wives  and  helpless  babes  to  starve  and  die; 
leaves  maidens  to  sink  in  shame,  and  strong,  young  men  with  such 
fears  for  the  responsibilities  of  life,  that  the  gajne,  has  the  love 
should  be  lavished  on  a  child,  and  the  cup,  the  kiss  should  be 
pressed  to  the  lips  of  a  doting  wife,  is  indeed  beyond  my  com- 
prehension. What  will  these  princes  do  with  all  this  wealth? 
They  cannot  "take  it  with  them,"  and  if  they  should,  I  am  falla- 
ciously ta,ught,  or  it  would  rapidly  melt.  The  many  have  earned 
and  the  few  appropriated,  yet  the  many  sanction  the  laws,  and 
defend  the  policy  by  which  they  have  been  robbed — "on  party 
grounds." 

Our  nation  has  produced  more  wealth  than  any  other  people, 
yet  who  owns  it?  Not  those  who  produced  it,  for  a  majority  of 
them  are  not  thirty  days  from  want. 

Jay  Gould  has  taken  enough  more  from  the  labor  fund  than 
he  ever  contributed,  to  impoverish  a  million  laborers.  I  do  not 
say  or  claim  that  Mr.  Gould  is  personally  dishonest;  he  is  a,  typ- 
ical rich  man,  the  fruit  of  a  discriminating  policy,  grafted  on  the 
"tree  of  liberty,"  knowing  it  would  bear  such  fruit;  a  policy  that 


is  a  disgrace  to  our  civilization  and  a  burlesque  on  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence. 

There  is  another  method  of  acquiring  wealth  which  is  recog- 
nized by  law  and  society,  because  the  cunning  have  moulded  the 
sentiment,  which  sanctions  the  wrong,  and  that  is,  by  the  in- 
creased merchantibility  of  unoccupied  la,nds.  The  justice  of  this 
method  of  acquiring  wealth,  though  sanctioned  by  custom,  law 
and  hoary  antiquity,  I  utterly  and  forever  deny.  I  claim  for  every 
man  on  earth  the  Absolute  right  to  own  and  control  his  entire 
net  earnings,  a  portion  of  all  the  wealth  which  each  can  produce, 
corresponding  with  his  or  her  contribution  in  its  creation;  but  I 
deny  any  man's  right  to  take  more  from  the  total  wealth  thaji  he 
contributes,  to  appropriate  that  which  he  did  not  earn,  and  es- 
pecially to  appropriate  value  wholly  created  by  the  efforts  or 
necessities  of  others.  As  no  man,  however  free  his  access  to  the 
stores  of  raw  material,  can  create,  produce  or  earn  land,  he  clearly 
ha,s  no  right  to  appropriate  or  own  more  than  he  can  use,  further 
thaji  by  a  custom,  established  by  battle  and  blood,  and  sanctioned 
by  a  sentiment  based  upon  tradition. 

Many  of  the  great  fortunes  of  today  a,re  based  chiefly  upon 
the  increased  merchantibility,  or  value,  of  unoccupied  land.  In 
many  instances  the  non-producing  owner  has  never  touched  the 
estate,  has  never  seen  it,  and  yet  it  rapidly  increases  his  wealth. 

How  can  this  be?  As  wealth  consists  in  things,  the  products 
of  mental  or  physical  labor,  how  can  a  man  grow  rich  without 
effort?  Only  through  a  false  and  barbarous  custom,  established 
by  a  false  and  barbarous  age,  by  a  false  and  barbarous  class  of 
tyrants,  who  have  always  cunningly  contrived  to  live  by  other's 
toil.  Society  and  law,  originating  in  a  custom  established  by  the 
sword,  says  that  such  a  tract  of  land  "belongs"  to  "some  Absent 
speculator,"  and,  though  the  land  bears  no  evidence  of  occupancy, 
or  ownership,  the  longer  it  remains  vacant,  and  the  more  families 
starve,  because  excluded  from  cultivating  its  fertile  surface,  the 
richer  the  absent  lord  becomes.  What  a  burlesque  on  justice. 
Sturdy  men  occupy  and  improve  land  adjacent  to  these  vacant 
tracts,  and  thus  increase  its  value.  Now,  on  principles  of  right, 
who  owns  the  increased,  or  a,dded  value? 

Because  modern  society  clings  to  the  polished  chains  of  this 
antique  servitude^  and  bows  to  an  oppressive  and  demoralizing 


—47— 

custom,  established  by  force,  great  syndicates  and  wealthy  per- 
sons have  "located"  vast  "estates"  a,nd  hold  them  until  the  future 

cessities  of  the  people  will  make  the  owners  millionaires. 
These  fortunes  were  never  earned,  but  acquired  by  an  un- 

stifiable  wrong,  only  tolerated  because  sanctioned  by  ancient 
usage,  and  practiced  by  those  who  moulded  public  opinion.  What 
a  grand  part  these  sublime  old  follies,  established  by  cunning 
rulers  centuries  ago,  played  in  the  new  conspiracy,  that  has  tra,ns- 
ferred  the  wealth  of  the  continent  in  to  the  hands  of  a  few,  by 
turning  the  profits  of  all  industry  into  the  golden  current  that 
flows  to  the  coffers  of  the  moneyed  princes  of  the  New  World. 


—48— 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  GREAT  CONSPIRACY. 

IBERTY  is  the  last  thing  the  rulers,  the  organized, 
have  ever  been  willing  to  grant  to  the  people;  and  to 
mould  a  practical  policy  by  which  the  profits  of  the 
many's  toil  could  be  safely  appropriated,  has  puzzled 
the  brain  of  the  avaricious  and  ambitious  aristoc- 
racy since  history  left  its  trace  on  the  first  written 
page.  The  new  conditions  that  canceled  the  personal 
ownership  of  the  slave,  ushered  in  an  age,  in  which, 
with  a  certain  policy,  a  more  certain,  safe  and  profit- 
able means  of  centralizing  power  and  gathering  the 
fruits  of  the  people's  toil  could  be  inaugurated.  The 
slave  oligarchy  was  broken.  The  confederacy  with  an  industrial 
system  based  upon  the  power"  of  the  lash,  had  gone  down  in 
blood.  It  was  evident  that  public  sentiment  demanded  universal 
liberty.  Crude  barbarism,  unskilled  in  the  villainies  of  higher 
civilization,  kept  the  fetters  on  the  slave,  tha,t  the  body  might  be 
made  an  article  of  commerce,  while  refined  barbarism,  or  aris- 
tocracy, with  courage  developed  into  cunning,  preferred  the  more 
polished  mode,  of  proclaiming  the  slave  free,  and  then  controlling 
his  opinions,  his  actions  and  the  profits  of  his  industry. 

For  the  utter  extinguishment  of  a.11  there  is  of  liberty  but  the 
name,  it  is  only  necessary  to  organize  a  triune  monopoly,  con- 
trolling the  land,  the  circulating  medium  and  the  trade  or  com- 
merce of  the  country. 

This  will  completely  subjugate  a,  people,  for  though  they  im- 
agine themselves  free,  as  none  can  own  them  or  drive  them  to 
their  tasks,  they  have  just  as  much  of  the  profits  of  their  own  toil 
as  the  old  slave  of  the  South;  as  much  as  the  master  wills.  La- 
bor goes  cheerfully  at  its  task,  when  it  feels  the  weight  of  no 
fetters  and,  though  it  finds  its  aspirations  curbed  at  every  turn, 
it  sees  no  hand  to  oppress,  and  believing  itself  'free,  struggles  on. 


—49— 

is  the  people  are  the  true  source  of  all  power,  ajid  as  it  is 
humiliating  to  confess  that  their  own  management  of  their  in- 
terests have  been  so  carelessly  guarded  that  most  of  their  in- 
herited rights,  estates  and  opportunities  have  been  surrendered, 
or  seized,  a,nd  that  present  conditions  suggest  grave  doubts  as  to 
the  success  of  popular  government,  they  are  slow  to  realize  the 
evils  that  have  arisen  and  the  dangers  that  threaten  the  future 
republic. 

To  any  fair-minded  person,  however,  with  sufficient  mental 
scope  to  survey  the  situation  of  the  country;  see  the  rapidly  in- 
creasing weajth  of  the  few  and  the  equally  rapidly  increasing 
poverty  of  the  many;  see  the  despotic  powers  of  monopoly  over 
the  great  masses  of  people;  see  pools  ajid  combinations  con- 
trolling every  trade  and  industry;  see  idleness  luxuriating  in 
princely  opulence,  while  industry  strikes  for  wages  enough  to  hold 
life  to  its  household;  see  corporations  boldly  arrayed  against  the 
people  in  the  choice  of  law-makers  and  carrying  elections  by  open 
bribery,  falsehood  and  fraud;  see  public  morals  so  debauched  that 
all  plunge  into  a  mad  scramble  to  gain  fortunes  by  cunning 
and  craft,  instead  of  by  honest  industry;  in  fine,  see  all  power, 
ajl  authority,  all  fashion,  all  taste,  all  sentiment,  all  law  and  gos- 
pel moulded  by  the  idle  few  with  cash,  he  must  conclude  that  our 
natures  have  become  depraved,  our  trust  betrayed,  and  the  fund- 
amental principles  of  our  government  subverted. 

These  powers  and  influences  necessarily  follow  in  the  train 
of  monopoly,  which  overrides  justice  and  humanity  and  consti- 
tutional limitations,  and  crystalizes  into  an  aristocracy,  and, 
finally,  monarchy. 

No  fact  could  be  plainer  to  the  public  mind  than  that  a  few 
cunning  and  crafty  men,  by  false  teachings,  deceit,  and  the 
sophistry  of  an  army  of  hirelings,  speakers  a.nd  writers,  and  by 
false  promises  to  accommodating  congressmen,  have  grasped 
these  triple  conditions,  a  monopoly  of  the  land,  of  money  and 
trade,  that  crowned  monopoly  the  monarch  of  American  values 
a,nd  opportunities.  When  the  old  slave  system  was  fleeing  the 
land  before  the  all-conquering  bayonets  in  the  hands  of  the  free 
laborers  of  the  North,  the  old  idea  of  centralism  revived  and  re- 
organized; and  plans,  even  to  the  most  minute  details,  were  form- 
ulated for  a  new  system  of  serfdom,  or  slavery,  more  in  harmony 


—50— 

with  this  "highly  polished"  age,  and  more  safe  and  profitable 
to  the  upper  classes,  or  the  favored  few.  But  who  could  have  con- 
ceived this  gigantic  scheme,  and  how  could  it  be  carried  out? 
How  easy  and  with  what  alacrity  came  forth  the  cunning  to  plot 
as  the  nation  fought. 

The  care  of  the  personal  sla,ve  had  always  been  a  hardship 
to  the  master,  so  the  new  oligarchy  carefully  calculated  how  in- 
finitely more  profitable  and  agreeable  would  be  the  labor  of  a  free 
than  a  slave  nation.  So  the  new  scheme  was  only  to  own  the  toil, 
leaving  the  toiler  free  to  choose  a  master  and  care  for  himself 
when  the  task  was  done. 

When  the  grand  citizen  soldiery  of  the  progressive  North 
were  fighting  for  the  elevation  of  humanity;  when  liberty  lay 
prostrate  under  the  drawn  dagger  of  armed  treason;  when  there 
was  an  empty  chair  at  every  table,  a  pang  in  each  heart,  a  cloud 
on  each  brow,  a  groan  convulsing  every  bosom,  a  tea,r  dimming 
every  eye,  and  every  ear  strained  to  catch  the  last  groan  from 
Southern  battlefields;  when  the  nation  was  wrapped  in  the  ha- 
biliments of  mourning,  and  the  whole  mentality  fixed  and  riveted 
to  the  one  great  question  at  issue;  in  gorgeous  parlors,  surround- 
ed with  the  most  dazzling  splendor,  a  small,  but  select  group  of 
cunning  men,  with  princely  tastes,  princely  ambitions  and  princely 
incomes,  met,  and,  over  their  wine  and  cigars,  crystalized  the 
scheme  for  the  new  order  of  things. 

When  all  were  busy  fighting,  marching,  praying,  with  no  hope 
but  of  peace  and  unity  restored,  and  no  fear,  but  loss  of  honor, 
and  none  guarding  the  rear,  what  a  happy  time  to  deceive  the 
people  and  lay  the  foundation  for  the  future. 

Land  had  been  so  plenty  and  cheap  that  the  people  held 
it.  of  no  value;  "times,"  based  upon  the  condition  of  finances, 
were  so  out  of  joint  that  the  people  turned  with  confidence  and 
hope  to  the  "great  financiers,"  who  had  so  "magnanimously  come 
to  the  country's  rescue,"  so  that  the  circulating  medium  could  be 
controlled;  and  as  the  nation  wa,s  embittered  against  England, 
taere  was  no  trouble  in  excluding  foreign  competitors  and  gain- 
ing a  monopoly  of  trade.  To  monopolize  the  land,  the  trade  and 
the  money,  and  thus  to  absolutely  control  the  conditions  under 
which  all  must  live,  was  the  long  drawn  plati,  and  every  link 


forged  by  the  hand  of  cunning,  in  the  chain  of  the  new  slavery, 
was  hailed  with  delight  by  the  "sovereign  people." 

These  plotters  were  not  the  representatives  of  men  of  fami- 
lies, or  a  particular  branch  of  industry,  but  of  a  class;  ajid  to 
establish  a  caste  that  would  wield  all  wealth  and  power,  would 
wear  all  dignity  and  honor  by  controlling  a,ll  profits,  to  expunge 
the  whole  middle  class  and  rear  a  landed  and  monied  aristoc- 
racy, with  the  power  and  splendor  and  dignity,  if  not,  indeed,  the 
titles  and  paraphernalia  of  a  monarchy,  on  the  ruins  of  the  re- 
ublic,  was  the  "object  of  the  meeting,"  the  purpose  of  the  deeply 
aid  and  far-reaching  scheme.  Cheered  by  the  infleunce  of  many 
victories,  the  people  were  blind  with  national  prid«,  and  the  citi- 
zen, spurred  to  the  wildest  hopes  by  good  prices  and  a  reckless 
activity,  was  absorbed  in  private  and  selfish  pursuits. 

The  masses  believed  themselves  free.  They  saw  the  country 
improving,  notwithstanding  the  ravages  of  war;  they  saw  the 
national  name  being  received  with  honor  throughout  the  world, 
and,  forgetting  their  great  opportunities  and  God's  countless 
blessings,  believed  themselves  indebted,  for  a,ll  they  possessed, 
the  wisdom  of  their  peculiar  laws.  With  every  ambition  cen- 
tered in  domestic  or  private  gain,  with  a  perfect  confidence  that 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  would  forever  be  blinding;  that 
the  constitution  could  never  be  violated,  except  by  armed  force, 
which  they  were  ready  to  meet,  and  a  blissful  faith  tha,t  none 
could  dream  of  national  humiliation,  all  slept  securely  in  their 
proud  patriotism.  The  mines  seemed  going  to  waste,  and  the 
eope  werel  willing  that  some  one  should  work  them;  the  bound- 
less prairies  made  land  so  cheaj)  and  plenty  that  they  were  anxious 
that  some  one  should  appropriate  them,  and  the  profits  were  so 
great  that  no  taxes  aroused  their  opposition.  They  celebrated  the 
Declaration  of  Independence;  they  worshipped  the  flag;  they  sang 
thrilling  songs  of  liberty  a,nd  equal  rights,  and  in  joyous  shouts, 
called  the  oppressed  of  the  world  to  join  the  army  of  progress. 
They  were  so  intoxicated  with  the  idea  of  personal  worth  and 
national  greatness  that  they  were  a  willing  prey  to  ajiy  who- 
would  flatter  them. 

From  a  people  so  strong,  so  brave,  so  intelligent  and  so 
patriotic,  the  emblems  of  liberty  were  never  taken  by  force;  but 
cunning,  if  able  to  lull  vanity  into  security,  and  organize  factions 


—52— 

which  would  busily  dispute  for  precedence,  or  for  choice  of  mas- 
ters, might  secure  the  substance  and  leave  the  patriots  reposing 
under  the  shadow  of  the  mighty  Republic.  Among  a  people  of 
such  marked  individuality,  such  strong  convictions,  such  personal 
pride  and  a,  dogged  determination,  each  to  have  his  own  way  in 
small,  as  in  great  matters,  there  was  little  difficulty  in  organiz- 
ing parties,  which  would,  under  proper  training,  become  factions, 
waste  energies  in  trivial  debates,  while  purchased  leaders  could 
turn  the  current  of  ajl  industrial  profits  to  the  channel  that  leads 
to  the  vaults  of  the  few. 

The  first  meeting,  when  these  plots  were  roughly  mapped  out, 
was  held  in  a  very  private  parlor,  in  a  fashionable  New  York  ho- 
tel, with  but  few  in  council,  with  doors  doubly  locked  and  trusty 
servants  pacing  to  and  fro  in  the  lofty  halls,  that  there  should 
be  no  intrusion. 

No  council  ever  held  on  earth,  since  the  forming  of  the  sec- 
ond triumvirate,  when  Antony,  Octavius  and  Lepidus  met  and 
divided  up  the  Roman  world,  had  for  the  object  of  its  delibera- 
tions such  stupendous  schemes,  and  no  plans  ever  conceived  by 
ma,n  were  carried  out  with  less  variations  from  original  lines. 
The  gentlemen  who  sat  in  this  close  council  and  plotted  this  con- 
spiracy, were  men  of  the  most  exalted  intellect.  They  knew  the 
past,  the  present  and  the  future.  They  knew  the  springs  from 
which  flow  sudden  wealth  and  lasting  power.  They  knew  the  dig- 
nity and  honor  at  the  command  of  men  of  cash.  They  knew  the 
people.  Their  pride,  their  vanity,  their  avarice,  their  ignorance, 
their  egotism.  They  had  mastered  the  weaknesses  and  frailties 
of  human  nature.  They  knew  the  ruling  passion  of  society,  and 
they  could  feed,  flatter  and  mould  that  passion.  If  history  sha.ll 
ever  be  truly  written,  these  few  men,  scheming  for  the  civil  and 
peaceful  conquest  of  an  empire,  and  that  empire  a  continent;  for 
the  rule  of  a  people,  and  that  people  the  most  free,  educated,  in- 
telligent a,nd  patriotic  people  on  earth,  will  be  recorded  as  the 
most  wise,  brilliant,  sagacious,  ambitious  and  daring  men  who 
ever  blessed  or  cursed  the  world.  They  were  cool,  calculating  and 
intrepid.  With  a  perfect  confidence  in  the  supremacy  of  cash  and 
cunning,  they  feared  no  exposure  a,nd  wasted  no  words  on  possi- 
ble failure.  The  "entertainment"  was  but  a  game,  and  the  profits 
of  a  nation's  toil  were  the  stakes,  In  appearance  they  were  as 


—53— 

"mild-mannered  men  a,s  ever  cut  a  throat  or  scuttled  a  ship," 
with  such  graceful  ease  in  ceremony  as  one  would  think  they 
were  planning  a  monument  for  a  Howard  or  a  Cushman. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  draft  a  line  of  policy,  a,nd  were 
to  confer  with  "suitable  persons,"  including  great  bankers,  finan- 
ciers and  speculators  of  England.  These  shrewd  men  were  ripe 
for  the  scheme,  and  there  was  small  delay  in  reports  ana  arrange- 
ments for  a  future  meeting. 

The  great  war,  then  raging,  was  carefully  reviewed,  ajid 
shrewd  financiers  plainly  saw  that  with  a  certain  line  of  policy, 
the  "great  bankers"  who  were  to  lend  the  government  its  finan- 
cial backing,  could  be  prolonged  until  the  pla,ns  iui  a  reaslble, 
centralizing  scheme  could  be  consummated.  They  knew  the  na- 
tion had  but  one  thought,  and  that  before  the  people  turned 
their  faces  from  the  conflict,  the  project  could  be  so  well  under 
way  as  to  insure  success.  Bold,  shrewd,  men,  with  vaulting  am- 
bition and  audacious  experience  were  chosen  to  ca,rry  out  dif- 
ferent branches  of  the  grand  plot.  A  few  of  the  "great  bank- 
ers" of  Wall  street  and  London  were  to  look  after  the  "money 
interests  of  the  government,"  and  formulate  a  policy  of  finance 
that  would  build  up  an  enormous  national  debt,  and  give  the  ab- 
solute control  of  the  circulating  medium  into  their  hands.  For- 
tunately for  the  schemers,  the  people  had  a  weakness  for  "hard 
money,"  already  cornered  by  the  syndicate,  so  that  this  part  of 
the  plot,  which  was  the  most  gigantic  financial  scheme  ever  con- 
ceived, was  the  least  difficult  in  its  execution  of  either,  in  the 
triple  infamy. 

Another  committee  of  shrewd,  experienced  and  successful  lob- 
byists, well  armed  with  such  "eloquent  arguments"  a,s  was  known 
to  be  most  convincing  to  congress,  was  to  look  after  tariff  legisla- 
tion and  secure  a  monopoly  of  the  nation's  trade.  Of  course,  in 
such  trying  times,  patriotism  would  suggect  that  the  people  buy 
the  fabulous  supplies  for  public  and  domestic  use,  at  the  cheap- 
est possible  rate,  but  as  the  confiding  and  easily  deceived  poyii- 
lace  would  attribute  all  the  coincident  hardships  to  the  evils  of 
wa,r,  such  a  grand  opportunity  must  not  be  lost. 

But  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  and  silence  doubt  with 
pleasant  dreams,  a  purse  well  filled  with  the  most  "advanced 
thought"  was  furnished  for  the  patriotic  editor  and  politician. 


—54— 

This  part  of  the  scheme  required  the  greatest  skill  in  its  ex- 
ecution. Of  course,  the  people  could  be  depended  upon  for  a  loyal 
support  of  such  measures,  for  there  should  be  no  secret,  that  all 
protective  laws  were  purely  in  the  interest  of  the  farmer,  laborer 
and  business  man.  The  syndicate  would  teach,  at  its  own  ex- 
pense, a  higher  patriotism  a,nd  the  ennobling  influence  of  buying 
and  selling  in  our  own  grand  country.  They  were  to  show  the 
vicious  influence  of  "cheap  goods," — which  almost  obliterates 
class — and  how  undignified  it  was  for  a  proud  American  to  wear 
a  coat  made  by  the  "Britishers,"  when  some  of  our  own  fellow 
citizens  would  furnish  one  just  a,s  good  at — twice  the  price.  Of 
course,  a  people  so  intelligent  as  ours,  would  naturally  grasp  the 
philosophy  of  this  advanced  political  economy  and  especially  if 
it  could  be  firmly  established  as  a  necessity  of  the  great  civil 
conflict.  The  gigantic  difficulties  in  carrying  out  this  pa.rt  of  the 
scheme,  as  plainly  foreseen,  was  the  fact  that  such  a  multiplicity 
of  interests  would  clamor  for  a  share  of  the  plunder,  that  the 
favored  class  would  be  much  larger  than  desired.  However,  the 
haj>py  thought  of  pooling,  and  combinations,  of  buying  and  crush- 
ing the  weak,  after  the  policy  became  firmly  established,  was  a 
compromise  for  the  conscience  of  the  more  princely  of  the  plot- 
ters, and  the  details  of  the  scheme  were  carefully  arranged.  A 
small  body  of  select  gentlemen  from  Pennsylvania,  Massa,chu- 
setts,  Maine  and  other  quarters,  were  soon  ready  to  concentrate 
their  vast  abilities  in  this  service,  and,  by  legislative  enactments, 
place  the  entire  tra.de  of  the  country,  and  its  vast  profits,  in  the 
hands  of  a  syndicate  of  "wise  and  experienced"  gentlemen. 

To  lay  a  plan  for  the  monopolization  of  the  land,  required 
persons  of  masterly  minds,  "exalted  patriotism"  and  ripe  experi- 
ence in  conceiving  and  executing  stupendous  schemes.  Such  gen- 
tlemen were  easily  found,  as  previous  success  had  stamped  a  few 
as  the  masters  of  nineteenth  century  enterprise.  When  the  plans 
for  this  branch  of  the  plot  were  unfolded,  the  "assembled  wis- 
dom" of  that  peerless  galaxy  of  talent  was  awed  into  astonished 
silence  by  the  colossal  majesty  of  the  unparalleled  undertaking, 
that  was  to  startle 'an  admiring  world  by  the  brilliancy  of  its 
success. 

With  what  cunning  ease  the  people  were  duped;  how  suc- 
cessfully these  gigantic  schemes  for  class  aggrandizement  ha,ve 


been  carried  out,  and  with  what  despotic  power  these  monopo- 
listic measures  have  clothed  the  few,  all  thinking  people  may 
now  clearly  understand. 

As  evidence  of  a  dark,  deep  conspiracy,  to  grasp  a,  monopoly 
of  the  land,  the  finances  and  the  commerce,  and  thus  enslave  la- 
bor, though  the  laborer  may  be  ostensibly  free,  by  controlling  ab- 
solutely all  the  conditions  under  which  all  industries  exist  and 
all  people  must  live,  I  a,sk  the  reader  to  «?o  with  me  through  the 
succeeding  chapters,  where  I  will  show  how  the  measures  pro- 
posed were  executed  and  how  unerringly  the  results  lean  toward 
the  final  consummation  of  the  great  centralizing  scheme. 


—56— 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE     CONSPIRACY— CONTINUED  —  MONOPOLY     GRASPING 
THE  LANDS. 

OW  let  us  examine  briefly  this  dark  conspiracy  and 
see  how  the  cunning  contrived  to  execute  their  well 
concerted  plans.  How  crafty  it  wa,s  when  every  hon- 
est and  patriotic  heart  beat  only  with  hopes  centered 
in  the  South,  for  these  men  to  cast  their  eyes  to  the 
great  West,  and  thus  further  their  designs  for  the 
conquest  of  empire.  Our  great  need  then,  was  money 
and  muscle  to  fight  down  treason,  but  these  shrewd 
speculators  had  little  difficulty  in  persuading  congress 
that  it  was  high  time  that  "the  star  of  empire"  should 
"take  its  way"  westward,  and  that  to  "open  up  the 
country,"  it  was  necessary  to  have  great  railroads. 

When  the  results  of  the  war  were  in  doubt,  and  the  whole 
land  almost  paralyzed  with  dread,  and  a.11  movements  of  men  and 
freights  to  the  South,  these  conspirators  conceived  the  gigantic 
scheme  of  building  half  a  dozen  railroads  across  two  thousand 
miles  of  desert  plains  and  mountains,  "connecting  the  oceajis," 
and  easily  persuaded  congress  of  its  necessity,  and  thus  began  an 
invasion  of  an  army  of  adventurers  to  win  the  unoccupied  land 
of  the  country. 

On  their  part,  of  course,  it  was  "pure  patriotism,"  and  they 
v/ere  ready  to  sacrifice  personal  ease,  and  push  these  great  en- 
terprises, providing  the  government  would  only  pay  the  bills  and 
grant  them  the  country  "opened  up." 

No  man  ever  claimed  tha,t  half  these  proposed  roads  were 
then  needed,  and  no  sensible  man  ever  denied  but  that  they  would 
have  been  built  by  private  enterprise  and  private  capital  when 
they  became  a  necessity.  But  the  scheme  was  to  acquire  the  ter- 
ritory. The  people  knew  little  of  the  extent  or  value  of  the  public 


• 


—57— 

domain.  But  the  shrewd  aristocracy  knew  the  importance  of  the 
soil  to  royalty.  They  knew  the  wealth,  power  and  dignity  that 
followed  the  ownership  of  that  upon  which  all  must  live,  and  they 
knew  that  the  only  firm,  reliable  and  permanent  basis  for  nobility 
or  aristocracy  was  in  landed  estates.  They  had  studied  the  his- 
tory of  great  movements  of  men,  and  saw  the  tide  turning  to 
our  land.  They  saw  over-populated  Europe,  with  its  hardy  mill- 
ions of  industrious  and  discontented  people,  seeking  out  a  place 
refuge  from  starvation  a»nd  oppression.  They  knew  that  our 
omestic  war  would  draw  the  attention  of  the  civilized  world  to 
our  country  and  its  worth.  They  saw  an  early  inundation  of  our 
vacant  land  by  an  industrious  population,  earnestly  striving  for 
brea,d.  They  saw  its  future  value,  and  the  power  and  revenues 
derived  from  its  ownership,  when  its  settlement  and  cultivation 
was  so  soon  to  be  an  accomplished  fact.  Since  the  invasion  of 
ia  by  that  grand,  insane  Macedonian,  so  gigantic  a  scheme  for 
rritoriai  aggrandizement  was  never  conceived. 

To  save  our  country  from  dismemberment,  and  prevent  a  por- 
ion  of  our  territory  from  falling  into  the  care  and  ownership 
f  other  conspirators,  every  home  was  robbed  of  its  best  blood 
d  draped  in  mourning,  and  a  vast  army  took  UD  arms  a,nd  waded 
through  four  years  of  war  and  conflict;  but  these  gentlemen  were 
better  skilled  in  diplomacy  and  finesse,  and  asked  the  great  gov- 
ernment to  give  them  a  territory  grea.t  enough  to  sustain  half  a 
dozen  kingdoms.  Further,  as  if  to  test  the  imbecility,  corruption 
or  madness  of  congress,  they  asked  for  money  from  the  public 
purse  to  enable  them  to  build  themselves  from  twelve  thousand 
to  fifteen  thousand  miles  of  railroad  on  their  new  domain. 

Since  1802  there  has  been  a  practice  of  giving,  by  the  general 
government,  of  the  public  lands  to  the  states,  to  a,id  them  in  pro- 
viding an  educational  fund  or  assisting  them  in  some  needed  in- 
ternal improvement  scheme.  The  people  had  scattered  all  over 
the  continent,  and  towns,  cities  and  communities  were  great  dis- 
tances apart,  a,nd  highways  for  trade  and  commerce  were  so  nec- 
essary, and  the  communities  so  poorly  prepared  for  building  them, 
or  paying  the  expense,  that  it  was  thought  to  be  the  part  of  wis- 
dom to  give  such  aid.  Starting,  too,  on  so  grand  a  future,  with 
a  great  fa,ith  in  the  necessity  of  education  tor  the  perpetuation  of 
the  republic,  vast  tracts  were  freely  given  for  those  praiseworthy 


—58— 

objects.  Such  a  feeling  then  existed  in  regard  to  "state  rights," 
that  there  seemed  little  objection  in  allowing  a  state  a  large  share 
of  authority  in  controlling  her  territory. 

But  in  1862,  the  system  wa,s  changed,  for  new  claimants  for 
public  donations  had  appeared.  Then  for  ten  years  there  was  the 
most  gigantic,  destructive  and  greedy  scramble  for  despoiling  the 
country  of  its  public  domain  and  changing  its  future  success  and 
development,  ever  undertaken  by  mortal  man. 

On  the  first  day  of  July,  1862,  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Com- 
pany was  incorporated,  and  for  the  entire  length  built,  a  grant  of 
each  alternate  section  for  ten  miles  on  ea,ch  side  was  given  it,  be- 
sides bonds  to  the  amount  of  $20,000  per  mile. 

The  act  of  July  2,  1864,  amended  this  act  and  broadened  out 
the  granted  territory  to  twenty  miles  on  each  side;  and  excepted 
coal  and  iron  in  its  reservation  of  minerals,  on  this  gra,nt.  What 
a  princely  gift.  Think  of  it.  The  American  congress,  giving,  not 
to  the  homeless,  but  the  rich  aristocrats,  an  empire  forty  miles 
wide  and  reaching  half  across  the  continent,  that  the  grantees 
may  ha.ve  a  place,  a  country  of  their  own,  on  which  to  build  a 
great  railroad.  Then,  lest  these  gentlemen,  these  princely  land 
owners,  would  not,  or  could  not,  accomplish  so  grand  an  improve- 
ment, congress  takes  from  the  people's  treasury,  and  gives  them 
bonds  to  the  amount  of  $20,000  per  mile  to  induce  them  to  build 
themselves  a  railroad  on  their  own  territory.  This,  too,  when  we 
had  so  grea,t  dangers  hanging  over  us,  that  we  had  little  money 
and  so  little  credit  that  our  bonds  were  selling  at  a  heavy  dis- 
count. 

By  the  law  of  July,  1,  1862,  the  Central  Pacific,  the  centra.1 
branch  of  the  Union  Pacific;  the  Kansas  Pacific,  a.nd  the  Sioux 
City  and  Pacific,  were  chartered,  and  strips  of  land  ten  miles  wide 
on  each  side  were  given.  On  March  3,  1863,  four  more  long  roads 
received  grants  of  twenty  miles  wide  on  each  side,  and  ten  miles 
each  side  additional,  as  indemnity  for  lands  previously  taken  up 
by  the  people.  July  1,  1864,  the  Northern  Pacific,  with  forty  miles 
ea.ch  side  and  ten  miles  indemnity  tract,  or  a  strip  one  hundred 
miles  wide,  reaching  half  across  the  continent,  was  given,  to  aid 
this  great  centralizing  scheme,  and  bonds  again,  to  the  amount 
of  $20,000  per  mile.  These  enormous  grants  include  more  than 
215,000,000  acres,  and  over  330,000  square  miles.  In  size,  this  va^t 


—59— 

empire  is  nearly  as  large  as  the  original  thirteen  states,  more  than 
six  times  as  large  as  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Illinois,  Missouri 
or  Iowa,  a,nd  larger  than  British  India  with  240,000,000  of  people. 
It  is  larger  than  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Denmark,  Sweden, 
Germany  and  Prance  combined,  and  has  a  sufficiency  of  arable 
land  to  sustain  a  population  of  50,000,000.  As  compared  with  these 
vast  domains,  the  landlords  of  Europe  are  pigmies,  and  to  our 
aristocracy,  the  majority  of  British  lords  and  dukes  are  "small 
fry,"  indeed. 

As  one  instance,  the  Central  Pacific  received  in  lands — a,t  gov- 
ernment value — bonds  and  corporation  and  individual  donations, 
$150,825,000;  and  Fisk  and  Hatche's  circular  shows  that  from  1869 
to  1879  the  net  earnings  ha,d  been  $67,370,000,  of  which  $18,453,000 
were  paid  in  dividends,  and  this  made  34%  on  the  entire  capital 
stock.  In  1882  it  was  officially  ascertained  that  over  100,000,000 
acres  of  these  lands  had  been  forfeited,  and  yet,  as  it  requires 
congressional  action  to  restore  them  to  the  people,  there  seems 
little  hope  for  a  "consummation  so  devoutly  to  be  wished." 

Then  we  have  donated  to  six  of  these  companies,  $64,623,000  in 
6%  thirty-year  bonds,  and  having  guaranteed  the  interest — which 
they  were  to  pay — we  have  had  to  pay  interest  on  them  to  the 
amount  of  $55,344,000  more,  making  a  total  of  $119,968,000  cash, 
or  enough  to  build  and  equip  a  double  track  road  from  New  York 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  If  the  enormity  of  this  crime  against  the 
people  was  not  obscured  by  the  incomprehensible  magnitude  of 
the  donations,  a  protest  would  go  up  from  every  patriotic  throa,t 
that  would  demand  a  reversal  of  the  destructive  policy. 

How  we  pity  the  conditions  of  the  peasantry  of  the  Old 
World,  who  have  struggled  for  existence  under  the  iron  heel  of 
a  landlord  system  that  was  more  unrelenting  than  the  demands 
of  a,ny  monarch.  We  read  of  the  forced  collection  of  rents,  the 
eviction  of  tenants  and  of  the  riotous  living  of  the  landed  gentry, 
and  we  are  happy  in  the  thought  that  we  have  escaped  these  evils. 
But,  remember,  we  have  laid  the  foundation  of  the  most  stu- 
pendous landlord  system  ever  known  on  earth.  We  doii't  do 
things  in  a  half-way  manner.  And  our  great  estates  are  not 
confined  to  Americans,  either.  The  lords,  the  dukes  and  the  rich, 
who  proposed  to  be  so  in  other  climes,  saw  the  drift  of  affairs 
and  rushed  to  our  country  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity, 


—60— 

and,  with  the  cash  wrenched  from  their  robbed  tenants  in  the 
Old  World,  they  came  to  build  more  grandly  in  the  New. 

Below  is  a  list  of  twenty-seven  corporations  and  syndicates, 
who  own  more  land  than  there  is  in  the  whole  of  Ireland,  with 
much  less  waste: 

Names.  Acres. 

An  English  Syndicate,  No.  3,  in  Texas  3,000,000 

The  Holland  Land  Company,  New  Mexico  4,500,000 

Sir  Edward  Reid  and  a  Syndicate  in  Florida 2,000,000 

English  Syndicate  in  Mississippi   1,800,000 

Marquis  of  Tweedale   1,750,000 

Phillips,  Marshall  &  Co.,  London  1.300,000 

German  Syndicate  2,100,000 

Anglo-American  Syndicate,  Mr.  Rogers,  Pres.,  London..      750,000 

Byran  H.  Evans,  of  London,  in  Mississippi  700,000 

Duke  of  Sutherland  425,000 

British  Land  Company,  in  Kansas 320,000 

William  Whalley,  M.  P.,  Peterboro,  England  310,000 

Missouri  Land  Co.,  Edingurg,  Scotland  300,000 

Robert  Tennant,  of  London 230,000 

Dundee  Land  Co.,  Scotland   247,000 

Lord  Dunmore   120,000 

Gal  16— THE  NEW  CRISIS. 

Benjamin   Newgas,    Liverpool    100,000 

Lord  Houghton,  in  Florida   60,000 

Lord  Dunraven,  in  Colorado   60,000 

English  Land  Co.,  in  Florida   50,000 

English  La.nd  Co.,  in  Arkansas  50,000 

Alexander  Grant,  of  London,  in  Kansas  35,000 

English  Syndicate,  (represented  by  Close  Bros.,)  Wis...      110,000 
M.  Ellerhauser,  of  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  West  Virginia     600,000 

A   Scotch   Syndicate,   in   Florida    500.00C 

A.   Boysen,   Danish   Consul,   in  Milwaukee    50,006 

Missouri  Land  Co.,  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland   165,000 


Total    20,700,000 

Then,   there  are  eighteen  real,  live   British  lords,   and   one 
"lady,"  who  own  nearly  one  and  a  half  millions  of     acres     iri 


America,  or  an  average  of  over  seventy-three  thousand  acres 
eh. 

The  table  is  from  the  "Irish  World,"  a  journal  as  careful  in 
tement  as  intelligent  in  observation. 

The  simple  ownership  of  land  in  Europe  confers  authority 
d  social  distinction,  as  the  great  non-owning  majority,  feel  and 
realize  a  sense  of  inferiority,  which  this  dwarfing  policy  has 
stamped  upon  their  natures,  and  recognize  their  necessary  de- 
pendence as  guests,  or  sojourners,  who  remain  the  world  by  the 
grace  of  a  more  favored  class. 

Owing  to  a  cheapening  of  fa,rm  products,  by  the  successful 
development  of  agriculture  in  America,  and  the  wasteful  extrava- 
gance and  insolent  demands  of  land  owners  in  the  United  King- 
dom, landlordism  is  weakening,  and  the  lords  who  see  a  rapid 
peopling  of  the  whole  inhabitable  world,  are  in  haste  to  transfer 
their  institutions  to  a  grander  field.  It  took  five  hundred  years 
to  perfect  an  absolute  mastery  by  land  ownership  in  Europe,  a,s 
the  population  increased  so  slowly,  but  there  is  more  history  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  than  in  a  thousand  years  following  the 
fall  of  the  Roman  power. 

Talk  of  the  oppressive  landlord  system  in  Ireland.  The  es- 
tates in  Ireland  are  but  small  farms  as  compared  with  those  of 
our  country.  But  when  the  above  list  is  examined,  we  see  that 
we,  too,  have  some  live  lords,  who  are  rapidly  gaining  a  power 
and  political  influence  greater  than  possessed  by  their  class  in 
Europe. 

I  have  traveled  through  the  vajleys  and  over  the  mountains 
Kerry,  on  the  vast  estate  of  the  Marquis  of  Landsdowne,  of 
121,000  acres  and  have  seen  the  distress  of  the  peasantry.  The 
"estate"  is  rugged  and  mountainous,  the  farms  small,  a,nd  often 
reaching  away  up  the  sides  of  the  heights;  and  I  have  seen  women 
carry  manure  up  the  steeps  on  their  shoulders  to  fertilize  the 
lord's  domain.  They  pay  from  twelve  to  fifty  shillings  per  acre, 
and  non-payment  of  rent  means  eviction  and  eviction  means  the 
work-house.  The  soil  is  wet,  and  often  cold  a,nd  poor,  but  the 
rents  must  be  paid.  Nearly  12,000  people  live  on  this  "Christian" 
nobleman's  estate,  and  the  noble  Nun  of  Kenmare"  gave  me 
true  pictures  of  their  horrible  condition.  In  1880,  about  five 
thousands  of  these  peasants  were  dumped  into  Castle  Garden,  as 


—62— 

garbage  in  the  sea,  as  they  were  five  thousand  too  many,  and 
must  be  removed  to  save  the  rest. 

I  have  seen  the  poverty,  wretchedness,  beggary  and  actuaj 
starvation  on  Kenma,re  estates,  where  the  barbarous  Hussy  raised 
— increased  th'e  "lord's"  income  $50,000  per  annum  to  save  him 
from  bankruptcy,  by  systematically  raising  the  rents.  The 
beautiful  lakes  of  Killarney,  on  the  estate  are  full  of  fish,  but 
they  are  all  for  the  "lord,"  and  the  peasant  might  starve  before 
being  allowed  to  spear  a  sajmon.  I  have  seen  the  hated  tyranny 
on  the  Isle  of  Aron,  the  estate  of  the  profligate  Hamilton,  and 
learned  to  despise,  and  abhor  the  very  name  of  landlord.  But 
these  landlords  are  small  farmers,  compared  with  the  great  lords 
or  America. 

The  difference,  too,  in  the  power  of  the  lord,  is  only  the  dif- 
ference in  the  population,  and  with  our  present  increase,  those 
are  born  who  will  see  all  the  horrors  of  landlordism  ever  suffered 
by  the  crofters  of  Scotland,  or  the  poor  victims  of  Bence  Jones, 
in  Kerry,  in  our  country. 

I  once  crossed  the  North  Sea,  in  the  fine  little  iron  steamer, 
"Mary  Stewart."  The  sta,te-rooms  were  all  taken,  chiefly  by 
English  and  Scotch  snobbery,  and  through  the  courtesy  of  the 
American  consul  at  Leith,  I  was  the  guest  of  the  captain,  shar- 
ing his  room  and  sitting  at  his  right  at  the  table.  He  was  a,  jolly, 
generous  old  "tar,"  with  a  varied  sense  of  humor,  piety  and  pro- 
fanity, that  was  a  safe  relief  from  ennui  by  its  constant  sur- 
prises. His  blessings  for  "this  bountiful  tajble,"  in  which  he 
never  failed  to  ask  God  to  "carry  our  good  ship  safe  to  the 
Hague,"  was  usually  interrupted  by  an  impatient  desire  to  damn 
the  French  cook  for  over-spiced  "sole." 

Among  the  most  interesting  of  the  passengers  was  a  Scotch 
manufacturer,  from  Glasgow,  a  maker  of  woolens.  He  was  a  gen- 
tleman of  good  education,  and  well  informed,  but  he  spoke  as 
broad  as  a  rustic  from  Glencoe,  and  was  as  awkward  as  a,  York- 
shire corn  broker. 

Being  two  days  delayed  on  the  high  seas  by  a  broken  en- 
gine and  a  ca,lm,  we  talked  of  many  things,  and  among  others 
of  the  troublous  times  in  Ireland. 

He,  as  myself,  deplored  the  condition,  but  attributed  differ- 
ent causes;  finally,  we  discussed  the  landlord  system,  when  I 


—63— 

grew  earnest,  and  possibly,  offensive.  Of  the  two,  he  was  the 
more  of  a  gentleman,  as  my  anger  had  almost  betrayed  my  tem- 
per. I  told  him  finally,  that  in  our  country  farmers  owned  their 
own  homes,  and  that  we  knew  nothing  of  a  landlord  system. 

He  politely  asked  to  be  excused  a  moment,  and  in  his  ab- 
sence I  felt  tha,t  I  had  made  a  mistake.  He  soon  returned,  and 
seating  himself,  calmly  unfolded  the  maps  of  Nebraska  and  Kan- 
sas, and  pointed  to  red  squares  where  he  and  his  partners — three, 
I  think — owned  200,000  acres,  and,  saicl  he,  with  a,  happy  but 
polite  air,  "there  is  more  good  land  on  our  American  estate  than 
on  all  the  estates  of  which  you  have  spoken."  I  was  mad,  and 
"adjourned  the  meeting." 

When  we  consider  the  magnitude  of  these  estates;  the  small 
number  of  persons  who  control  them;  the  power  that  will  follow 
their  ownership,  with  the  increased  density  of  population — that 
is  increasing  with  unparalleled  rapidity — the  further  fact  that  a 
majority  of  farms  in  the  great  West  are  heavily  mortgaged  to 
the  same  class  of  men,  and  that  the  mortgagees — as  a  class — be- 
ing great  capitalists,  have  the  power  to  shrink  values  by  increased 
freight  charges,  or  high  duties  that  will  drive  away  our  cus- 
tomers— thus  crippling  the  ability  of  'the  debtor  class  to  meet 
their  obligations,  the  future  looks  alarming  indeed,  if  not  almost 
hopeless.  The  lands  given  away  are  equal  in  extent  to  all  the 
lands  actually  "under  plow"  in  the  United  States. 

What  a  frightful  condition!  The  apologists  for  the  present 
evils,  argue  and  "prove"  by  "statistics"  that  the  great  estates 
a.re  falling  to  pieces,  and  that  the  land  will  finally  be  more  equally 
divided.  That  is  not  the  way  things  go,  and  that  is  not  the  way 
the  books  read. 

From  1870  to  1880,  the  changes  have  been,  as  shown  in  the 
following  statement: 

Farms  under  3  acres  decreased  37%. 

Farms  from  3  to  10  acres  decreased  21%. 

Fa,rms  from  10  to  20  acres  decreased  14%. 

Farms  from  20  to  50  acres  decreased  8%. 

Farms  from  50  to  100  acres  increased  37%. 

Farms  from  100  to  500  acres  increased  200%. 

Farms  from  500  to  1,000  acres  increased  379%. 

Over  1,000  acres  668%. 


—64— 

Then,  too,  the  man  who  cannot  see  the  grea,t  advantages  that 
an  extensive  farmer,  or  land  owner,  has  over  a  small  one,  in  the 
economy  of  buying  and  selling,  in  machinery,  in  labor,  in  build- 
ings, and  the  rotation  of  crops,  pasturing,  etc.,  must  be  blind  in- 
deed; and  just  to  the  extent  of  tha,t  advantage,  will  the  large 
farm  or  estate  grow  larger  and  the  number  of  small  ones  dis- 
appear. 

No,  the  landlord  system  has  come,  and  it  has  come  in  the 
regular  American  style,  on  a  "big  scaje,"  and  upon  this  point, 
the  conspiracy  of  the  few  to  grasp  all  the  profits  and  control  all 
values,  has  worked  without  a  protest  from  the  victims.  The  great 
landed  aristocracy  a,re  firmly  established  in  the  New  World,  and 
will  wait  but  briefly  to  gather  the  revenues. 


—65— 


CHAPTER  IX, 

E    CONSPIRACY— CONTINUED— MONOPOLY    CENTRALIZ- 
ING THE  LAND. 

Having  shown  that  the  monopolists  have  gained  a  "con- 
'olling  influence"  in  the  land,  I  desire  to  call  attention. to  the 
power  following  its  ownership.  First,  let  me  show  how  tney  hold 
a  controlling  influence  in  the  land  vajues  in  the  country.  A  few 
years  ago,  before  these  great  western  lines  were  built,  the  fron- 
tiersman was  isolated  from  civilization  and  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation was  so  great  that  there  wa,s  little  profit  in  any  products 
but  live  stock.  Then  there  were  no  schools,  churches',  or  oppor- 
tunities for  mingling  with  refined  society.  These  hardships 
seemed  to  men  reared  in  a  more  densely  populated  country  to 
be  so  great  as  to  repel  the  western  movements,  except  under  cases 
of  necessity,  or  by  the  few  whose  tastes  and  manners  fitted  them 
for  this  hardy  pioneer  life.  As  a,  consequence,  rents  were  fair- 
as  prices  would  justify  more  extensive  farming — and  many  de- 
siring to  enter  into  agricultural  pursuits,  preferred  buying  farms 
in  an  older  country  to  moving  west  and  waiting  for  developments. 
With  these  great  railroad  lines  stretching  in  all  directions,  low 
prices  for  grajn,  constant  advertising  "cheap  lands,"  "free  homes," 
and  "glorious  climate"  and  such  irresistible  inducements  for  em- 
igrants; with  cheap  rates  for  long  hauls,  and  numerous  "land  ex- 
cursions" and  exaggerated  "statistics"  of  fabulous  crops,  of  rap- 
idly developing  country,  of  cities  tha,t  had  sprung  into  existence 
as  if  by  magic,  of  fortunes  so  easily  acquired,  the  laborer  with 
small  means,  the  tenant  farmer  and  restless  business  man  set  out 
on  a  new  career.  The  small  farmer,  too,  moved  with  the  noblest 
desire,  to  better  the  conditions  of  his  sons  a,nd  daughters,  and 
those  whose  mortgages  weighed  so  heavily  on  them,  "sold  out," 
and  following  Mr.  Greeley's  advice — went  west. 

So  overwhelming  was  the  desire  to  carve  out  a  new  future, 
tat  in  many  places  there  were  very  marked  changes  in  the  citi- 


—66— 

zens  and  population  in  a  few  months.  Ma,ny  farms  were  left  ten- 
antless,  the  small  farmer  sold  to  his  more  wealthy  neighbor,  and 
the  debtor  compromised  with  the  mortgagee  and  "left  the  coun- 
try." This  very  materially  depreciated  the  value  of  farms  in  majiy 
localities,  even  as  far  west  as  Illinois  and  Iowa.  Among  ail  new 
land  seekers,  the  first  and  most  important  question  wa,s  how  far 
the  land  was  from  a  railroad.  There  was  no  question  as  to  rates, 
but  they  were  advertised  as  "low,"  and  compared  with  the  cost 
on  short  ha,uls,  were  so.  Then  began  a  new  criterion  of  values 
on  farms.  Railroad  facilities  being  equal,  the  value  of  a  farm 
began  to  be  based  on  actual  cost  of  improvements,  plus  the  value 
of  wild  land. 

To  more  rapidly  increase  the  desirability  and  value  of  their 
great  estates  in  the  far  West,  and  develop  a  country  whose  culti- 
vation would  furnish  the  most  fabulous  amount  of  freights  for  a 
very  long  and  profitable  haul,  the  transportation  lines  ma,de  a 
great  show  of  favoring  these  distant  points  by  low  freights.  As 
the  world  judges  by  comparison,  it  was  easy  to  convince  men  in 
certain  localities  that  they  were  favored  in  freight  charges,  if  the 
people  "along  the  line"  at  a  small  part  of  the  distance  from  the 
eastern  markets,  were  charged  two  or  three-hundred  per  cent 
more,  proportional  to  distance,  thaji  themselves.  The  low  freights 
of  the  long  hauls  were  imaginary,  as,  I  believe,  no  railroad  was 
ever  built  or  operated  as  a  charitable  institution,  and  no  honest 
railroader  has  ever  pretended  that  they  intentionally  did  busi- 
ness for  amusement.  The  outrageous  and  unjustifiable  discrim- 
inations against  the  localities  along  the  line  and  much  farther 
ea,st,  had  a  double  purpose.  First,  to  draw  or  drive  people  to  the 
settlement  of  their  dominions  in  the  far  West;  and  secondly,  to 
vastly  increase  their  revenues,  knowing  that  they  could  plead 
justification  on  the  "long  and  short  haul"  question,  and  by  aigu- 
ing  the  advantage  of  present  rates  over  the  cost  under  the  old 
ox-team  system.  These  shrewd  corporation  managers  knew  the 
people  would  submit,  as  they  knew  just  how  to  control  the  politi- 
cians, who  controlled  the  people's  votes.. 

So,  land  in  the  West  being  cheap,  and  freights  being  compara- 
tively low,  this  new  mode  of  valuation  depreciated  the  desirability 
of  farms  in  the  older  localities.  The  sajne  influence  that  de- 
preciated farm  property,  fell  with  crushing  weight  on  many  small 


—67— 

rns  and  villages,  and  to  intensify  this  force,  a  discrimination 
in  freights,  so  nearly  absorbed  all  profits,  both  of  farming  and 
business,  a,s  to  greatly  accelerate  the  movement.  Of  course,  this 
whole  movement  was  in  the  interest  of  the  great  land  owner, 
whether  in  the  West  or  "in  the  states,"  and  was  especially  a,d- 
vantageous  to  the  transportation  lines,  built  by  land  subsidies. 
First,  it  rather  sensibly  cheapened  the  products  of  the  farm,  and 
cheapened  the  farms  in  the  older  stages,  and  hastened  the  fore- 
closure of  innumerable  mortgages,  and  enabled  the  wealthy  specu- 
lator to  add  to  his  acres  at  lower  prices.  Then  the  settlement 
of  every  man  on  the  prairies  of  the  West,  increased  the  value 
of  the  lands  Adjoining  him,  and  his  products  gave  rich  employ- 
ment to  the  great  Central  Railroad  Company,  whose  flaming  hand- 
bills and  cheap  land  excursions,  had  bred  his  first  desire  to  emi- 
grate. The  land  princes  saw  this  movement,  and  prepared  for 
it  in  the  details  of  the  great  conspiracy.  No  observer  has  failed 
to  notice  that  these  great  lines  have  been  as  "generous"  in  ad- 
vertising the  "free  lands"  of  the  government,  as  their  own. 

On  the  sa,me  bill  I  have  seen  in  all  the  states  and  in  all  the 
European  countries,  that  railroad  land  was  worth  from  $2.50  to 
$5  per  acre,  and  that  in  these  same  limits,  on  the  "even  num- 
bered" sections,  there  were  millions  of  acres  to  be  homesteaded. 
From  a  business  standpoint,  it  mattered  not  to  them  whether  the 
men  from  Denmark,  Sweden,  Hungary,  Ireland,  Prussia  or  France, 
bought  land  of  the  monopolist,  or  took  free  homesteads  on  the 
government  sections.  If  the  new-comers  bought  railroad  land, 
the  company  absorbed  the  entire  profits  in  transportation,  and 
if  they  homesteaded,  and  formed  a  nucleus  for  a  town  or  neigh- 
borhood on  the  lands,  those  of  the  company  were  greatly  in- 
creased in  value,  and  the  rates  of  transportation  were  so  fixed  as 
to  absorb  all  the  profits,  so  that  there  was  little  difference  in  the 
comparative  advantages.  The  lands  were  acquired,  and  the  most 
Herculean  efforts  put  forth  to  settle  the  country.  Millions  of 
foreigners  from  all  nations,  were  brought  by  the  inducements 
of  these  corporations,  who  either  settled  directly  on  these  lands, 
or  crowded  out  the  laboring  men  of  the  country  by  a  general  low- 
ering "of  wages,"  so  that  they  were  forced  to  do  so.  The  corpora- 
tions were  equally  benefited  whichever  process  was  enforced. 
The  homestead  laws  were  brought  into  harmony  with  these  great 


—68— 

interests,  and  the  foreigner,  from  whatever  country,  could  set- 
tle on  a  tract  of  land  the  next  day  after  arrival  and  become  the 
immediate  owner,  so  tha,t  vast  territories  have  been  inundated 
by  an  industrious  class  of  strangers,  whose  presence  increases 
the  "lord's"  estates,  whose  products  give  valuable  employment 
to  the  corporation's  railroads,  and  whose  swarming  numbers 
have  taken  the  opportunities  which  should  have  been  reserved, 
for  a,  time,  at  least,  for  our  children  and  our  homeless. 

The  national  generosity  has  been  so  flattered  and  pampered 
that  we  have  declared  our  country  an  "asylum  for  all  the  world," 
a  sort  of  universal  poor-house,  where  the  outcasts  were  not  only 
welcome,  but  made  partners  b'y  an  immediate  division  of  prop- 
erty and  privilege.  To  settle  up  the  waste  lands  of  the  far  West, 
and  thus  augment  the  value  of  the  vast  estates  of  the  monopo- 
lists, or  enrich  them  by  the  hauling  of  the  bulky  products  of  the 
new  farms,  was  the  policy  of  the  few,  and  they  have  been  fortu- 
na,te  in  always  having  the  multitude  "rise  and  sing,"  when  they 
have  recited  the  creed  and  sounded  the  key. 

The  fact  that  about  88%  of  emigrants  seek  and  find  employ- 
ment in  great  industrial  centers,  shows  the  sharpness  in  competi- 
tion among  laboring  men,  arising  from  this  cause,  and  shows 
that  vast  numbers  of  "American  born"  have  really  been  driven 
from  employment  to  become  wealth  producers  for  another  class 
of  the  great  monopolists — the  land  owners. 

With  a  national  policy  based  upon  justice,  every  strong,  hon- 
est and  industrious  person  who  came  to  our  shores  would  be  a 
blessing  to  the  whole  society,  but  with  all  land  and  the  great 
store  of  raw  material,  from  which  all  must  live,  monopolized  by 
a  few,  every  acquisition  to  our-  population,  only  benefits  the  mo- 
nopolist, by  increasing  the  demand  for  his  goods,  and  sharpening 
the  competition  for  the  privilege  of  producing  them.  With  the 
lands  and  mines  controlled  by  a  few,  every  able-bodied  producer 
who  comes  from  Europe,  adds  to  the  wealth  of  the  material 
owner,  by  giving  him  a  better  market  for  his  possessions  and  a 
cheaper  market  for  his  material,  which  is  la,bor. 

I  have  not  the  data,  as  I  have  taken  no  pains  to  search  out 
and  compare  statistics,  but  reasoning  inductively,  I  a,m  confident 
that  such  a  comparison  would  prove  that  the  years,  seasons  or 
periods  of  the  greatest  immigration,  had  been  followed  closely 


= 


-    69— 

by  the  most  serious  labor,  financial  a,nd  business  prostrations, 
if,  indeed,  not  of  strikes,  lockouts,  riots  and  the  most  fearful  busi- 
ness failures. 

With  society,  business  and  industry,  moving  in  a  normal 
stage  of  advancement,  the  advent  of  a  half  million  sturdy  peo- 
pie  in  a  single  yea,r,  belonging  to  one  class  and  seeking  means  of 
livelihood  through  one  channel,  must  create  a  wonderful  dis- 
turbance in  the  industrial  world.  It  breaks  the  symmetry  of 
growth  or  action,  and  cannot  fail  to  affect  the  whole  mass.  As 
there  are  so  many  sources  of  evil,  so  many  causes  to  which  we 
may  safely  attribute  evil  results,  that  we  are  usually  blinded  to 
the  demerits  of  that  which  we  advised  or  approved.  But  monop- 
oly, a  monstrosity  born  of  an  abnormal  condition,  must  depend 
pon  Abnormal  conditions  for  growth  and  success.  This  being 
these  social  convulsions  or  spasms,  give  monopoly  its  rich- 
t  harvest.  It  is  a  time  for  closing  mortgages,  for  exacting 
usury,  for  cornering  grain,  and  for  crucifying  the  conscience,  that 
evil  dreams  may  disturb  the  wine-fed  phantoms  of  sleep. 

If  the  monopolists  have  the  power  to  regulate  values  on  land, 
they  ha,ve  no  less  power  in  crushing  out  the  small  farmer  as  a 
class.  In  no  field  of  investigation  or  experimentation  has  genius 
developed  more  practical  results  than  in  labor-saving  machinery 
for  the  farm.  With  land  monopolized,  and  large  capital  invested  in 
farming,  the  benefits  of  this  improved  machinery  will  so  largely 
accrue  to  the  rich  as  to  give  them  great  advantage  in  the  field 
of  competition.  I  have  shown  how  rapidly  large  farms  are  in- 
creasing in  number  and  this  is  largely  attributable  to  the  same 
influence  that  annihilated  the  old-time  blacksmith,  shoe-maker, 
carpenter,  weaver,  etc.,  and  centralized  the  whole  manufacturing 
industry  in  the  great  ma,rts,  where  costly  methods  could  produce 
better,  cheaper  and  enough  more  rapidly,  to  silence  all  private 
workers. 

As  before  remarked,  we  have  now  more  tenant  farmers 
than  the  British  Isles,  and  when  the  great  army  of  small  farmers 
ajad  those  who  hold  by  virtue  of  cut-throat  mortgages  join  the 
forces,  there  will  be  more  farm  laborers  in  this,  than  in  that  coun- 
try. With  this  monopoly,  the  great  farm  that  will  move  with 
the  same  precision  as  a  great  factory,  with  no  waste,  with  the 
more  improved  methods,  and  with  an  experienced  management, 


—70— 

is  to  be  the  farm  of  the  future  and,  gradually,  is  the  small  farmer 
yielding  to  these  inevitable  results.  No  man  who  has  a  home  to 
support  can  compete  with  the  great  cold  machines,  tha,t  have  no 
backs  to  ache,  no  hearts  to  break,  and  no -wife  and  babes  crying 
for  bread. 

The  steam  plow,  the  electric  reaper,  and  the  corn  husking 
machine,  are  even  now  waiting  the  call  of  the  capitalist  farmer. 
Who  is  to  be  benefited  by  this  triumph  of  genius?  Only  the 
farmer  with  many  broad  acres  can  afford  the  assistance  that  will 
enable  him  to  produce  cheaper  than  his  less  fortunate  neighbor. 

A  thousand  nations  have  sunk;  yielded  to  the  inevitable  and 
died  out  under  the  withering  curse  of  landlordism,  yet  on  no  sp  it 
on  earth  has  the  system  ever  assumed  such  gigantic  proportions 
as  in  our  country. 

What  a  change  has  come  to  cloud  the  future  of  the  poor,  the 
unfortunate  and  the  ambitious  young  men,  who  for  years  have 
found  a,  refuge  on  the  fertile  prairies  of  the  West. 

Up  to  quite  recently,  a  pleasant  home  on  the  gentle  hills  of 
the  new  states  or  territories,  away  from  the  disappointing  cares 
of  precarious  business  life,  where  trade  and  commerce  are  battle- 
fields for  contention  and  strife,  with  failure  often  snatching  the 
prize  from  the  liajid  of  confident  success,  awaited  every  man,  and 
those  who  brought  courage  and  industry  were  promised  a  new 
hope  and  a  better  future.  But  now  he  must  stay  with  his  hard- 
ships, and  fight  the  battle  of  life  with  the  other  millions  in  over- 
crowded center,  many  of  whom,  too,  would  gladly  flee  for  the 
free  air  of  the  great  West  had  not  the  opportunities  been  cut  off 
by  the  rapacity  of  the  cunning  few. 

A  majority  of  persons  engaged  in  gainful  pursuits  in  Amer- 
ica must  always  be  farmers,  but  where  will  they  get  the  farms? 

Half  of  California,  including  more  than  three-fourths  of  the 
best  arable  and  pasture  land,  is  owned  by  less  than  five  hundred 
men.  Traveling  once  in  that  paradisical  country,  where  nature 
seems  to  have  halted  in  awe  of  the  great  Pacific  and  emptied  out 
her  precious  load  of  all  that  could  happify  a  world;  so  rich  the 
soil,  so  bountiful  and  luxuriant  the  fruit  and  vegetable  world,  so 
vajied  the  climate  and  pure  and  healthful  the  air,  that  it  seemed 
I  could  hear  the  gods  whisper  from  the  snow-capped  mountains 
and  the  tropical  valleys,  for  man  to  come  and  eat  and  drink  and 


—71— 

N, 

be  happy,  as  plenty  defied  exhaustion  of  her  stores.  Driving  up 
a  valley  so  rich,  fertile  ajid  beautiful,  I  halted  in  wonder,  and 
stood  in  silent  amazement,  beholding  the  enchanting  scene.  On 
one  side  the  bold  mountain  stood  grandly  erect,  with  snow- 
capped summit  that,  like  a  crowned  giant,  guarded  the  fairy  land, 
and  the  fleecy  clouds  that  floated  naajectically  over  from  the  sea, 
stooped  to  kiss  the  fair  cheek  of  the  generous-  king  of  the  West. 
The  montains'  brows  were  hung  with  fruits  and  vines,  from  which 
hung  great  festoons  of  ripened  grapes  of  nature's  kind. 

The  forests  were  silent,  except  for  the  music  of  the  birds  and 
the  sweet  purling  rills;  the  grass  uncropped,  except  by  the  timid 
deer  and  antelope;  the  soil  unbroken,  except  by  the  track  of  the 
freighter's  lonely  team,  and  the  lonesome  world  of  beauty  seemed 
tc  sigh  for  some  to  pra,ise  and  enjoy.  The  smiling  valley  was 
nearly  as  wide  as  that  of  the  Nile,  and  as  fertile  as  that  of  the 
Po.  Thirty  miles  from  a  human  habitation,  I  came  upon  a  train 
of  sad,  wea,ry,  slowly-trudging  emigrants.  The  teams  were  jaded, 
and  every  step  of  the  weary  animals  wa^  a  silent  protest  against 
the  pleading  driver  for  an  onward  movement.  There  were  seven 
teams  with  seven  families.  The  men  were  sad,  sturdy,  honest 
and  bra,ve-looking  pioneers,  with  browned  cheeks,  worn  and  dusty 
clothing;  and  a  look  and  word  of  subdued  kindness,  showed  them 

I  honest  and  true.  There  were  seven  wives  and  mothers,  from  the 
bride  of  a  few  months  to  the  gray-haired  dame,  who  lived  again 
for  her  children's  children.  And,  oh,  what  a  sad,  weary,  hopeless 
looking  group  they  were  a£  they  moved  like  ghosts  about  the 
camp  fire,  preparing  their  frugal  meal.  Their  eyes  were  deep  and 
sluggish;  their  cheeks  were  brown,  but  sunken;  their  forms  were 
bent  and  their  arms  lean  and  weak.  Tired  nature  ha,d  chased 
away  womanly  modesty,  pride  and  loveliness.  The  withered 
brea,sts  of  almost  savage  mothers  were  unblushingly  exposed,  and 
scrawny  babes  were  vainly  trying  to  gather  from  the  dried-up 
fount  the  means  of  life.  What  looking  children!  There  were 
twenty.  Were  a  smile  to  come  that  way,  the  pouting  faces  would 
frighten  it  away,  never  to  return.  Nature  opened  her  acres  and 
seemed  in  glee  to  cheer  the  hearts  of  those  new-comers.  The 
rustling  trees  sa,id,  "come  to  my  shade,  and  rest  until  you  build 
a  habitation."  The  fertile  soil  said,  "plow  me  up,  and  quickly  I 
will  fatten  the  sides  of  all  the  weary  coloay;"  and  the  fruits  said, 


—72— 

"pluck  and  eat,  for  the  gods  have  provided  for  the  children  of 
men." 

With  prospects  so  charming,  why  were  these  people  sad? 
Why  did  they  not  rejoice,  like  the  pilgrims  of  old,  or  the  multi- 
tudes in  the  oriental  taje,  when  they  found  a  like  country?  They 
were  searching  for  homes,  for  a  place  on  which  to  build  a  hab- 
itation, where  they  could  cultivate  the  soil,  sow  crops  and  rest 
at  even,  under  their  own  "vine  and  fig  tree."  Why  were  they 
sad  and  helpless?  For  ten  leagues  there  was  no  habitation,  and 
why  not  bless  God  and  go  to  work? 

They  were  hunting  homes  in  a  world  where  nature  placed 
them.  They  were  hunting  a  resting  place  on  God's  footstool, 
where  they  might  humbly  toil  at  His  feet  and  praise  Him  for  His 
bounties.  They  were  hungry,  lonely,  sad  and  wea,ry,  and  were 
praying  for  a  place  where  plenty  would  reward  labor,  and  bring 
again  the  rose  of  health  to  the  cheek  of  loved  ones.  This  spot 
was  a  paradise,  and  why  go  farther? 

Oh,  cruel  fate!  Oh,  fiendish!  For  shame  upon  society  and 
government;  for  these  honest  men  remembered  with  a  sigh,  that 
it  was  somewhere  written,  "thou  shalt  not  tarry  here,  for  this 
beautiful  world  'belongs'  to  another." 

The  train  ha,d  trudged  nearly  two  whole  days  and  camped 
three  nights  on  the  wild,  uncultivated  land,  "belonging"  to  ONE 
man.  How  came  the  absent  man  of  ease  "to  own"  and  keep  from 
cultivation  this  garden  of  the  world?  By  what  right  are  these 
poor,  weary  children  of  God,  pushed  from  this  vacant  spot  on 
His  footstool,  to  tramp  farther,  they  know  not  where,  to  find  a 
spot  on  which  to  live  or  die? 

Oh,  thou  direct  curse,  that  ever  damned  the  world;  that  sent 
virtue  in  raggedness  to  insanity;  industry  to  want,  beggary  and 
starvation;  the  blushing  maid  to  unspeakable  shame;  the  dimpled 
babe  to  lean  wa,nt  and  misery;  that  polluted  the  saintly  lips  with 
a  curse;  that  ever  drove  in  insolent  haste  the  helpless  innocents 
from  cottage  hearth  into  the  winter's  blast;  that  filled  the  prisons 
with  criminals,  the  church  with  hypocrites,  the  judiciary  with 
hirelings,  the  legislature  with  knaves,  and  snatched  the  promise 
of  God  from  nature's  hand  and  forged  it  into  a  lie;  thy  name  is 
Monopoly. 

It  is  said,  "Uncle  Sam  is  rich  enough  to  give  us  all  a  farm," 


—73— 

but  the  imbecile  old  dunce  has  given  his  possessions  to  a  few  of 
his  idle  sons,  the  sharpers,  and  left  the  balance  to  wrestle  with 
life  as  best  they  can,  in  a  "world  already  occupied." 

There  are  strong,  vigorous  men  now,  a  part  of  our  noblest 
mannood,  who  started  out  in  life  without  a  dollar,  and  crossed 
the  Mississippi  River  with  all  their  worldly  goods  in  a  cotton 
handkerchief.  The  world  wa,s  before  them — the  western  world — 
and  as  it  was  then  no  disgrace  to  be  poor,  they  faced  the  new 
difficulties  with  courageous  joy.  A  young  man  left  the  old  home, 
with  nothing  but  a  strong  body,  a  manly  will,  good  health,  and 
pleasant  memories  for  the  past,  and  cast  his  fortune  in  the  new 
empire.  Wearily  trudging  along  over  the  swelling  prairies,  guid- 
ed by  the  dim  track  of  an  early  pioneer,  might  have  been  seen, 
almost  any  day  thirty  years  ago,  a  strong  young  ma,n  seeking  a 
fortune,  with  untamed  nature.  He  approaches  a  rude  cabin,  is 
admitted,  finds  employment,  makes  love  to  and  marries  the 
farmer's  daughter.  He  takes  a  claim  just  over  the  hill,  and  lays 
the  foundation  for  a  future  home  and  a  future  usefulness.  With 
industry  he  opens  up  his  "claim,"  rajses  good  crops,  feeds  his 
flocks  on  the  "thousand  hills,"  and  before  his  locks  frost,  he  is 
among  the  "heavy"  men  of  the  state.  He  serves  with  "distinc- 
tion" in  the  legislature,  and  holds  prominent  positions  of  trusfr 
and  profit,  and  is  an  honor  to  his  state  and  country.  He  owes 
a,ll — not  to  his  good  start  in  life,  for  he  had  not  a  penny;  not 
to  his  education,  for  he  had  very  little — but  to  the  opportunities 
of  taking  a  home,  and  the  ambition,  hope  and  manhood  that  suc- 
cess develops  in  a  fertile  soil. 

But,  "my  dear  reader,"  where  are  the  opportunities  for  the 
present  a,nd  the  future  generations?  Where  will  they  get  their 
homes,  to  help  develop  their  manhood? 

If  any  of  you,  my  readers,  came  to  the  new  and  giant  West, 
and  found  and  enjoyed  such  blessings,  tell  me  where  your  soris 
and  your  neighbor's  sons,  who  love  your  sweet  daughters  and 
would  gladly  make  them  their  wives  if  they  sa.w  a  possibility  of 
making  them  comfortable,  are  going  to  get  their  homes?  Your 
boys  cannot  do  as  you  did,  for  your  "servants,"  your  representa- 
tives, have  given  the  land  that  belonged  to  your  sons,  to  a  few 
sharpers,  and  they  must  compromise  with  them,  and  get  a  home 
at  their  terms,  if  at  all,  while  you  got  yours  on  your  own  terms. 


—74— 

You  have  worked  hard,  and  hoped  to  give  your  children  better 
chances  than  you  had,  but  have  you?  You  may  have  sent  them 
to  better  schools,  a,nd  taught  your  daughters  more  music,  but  do 
you  leave  the  world  with  as  good  opportunities  for  your  children 
as  your  fathers  left  for  you?  Where  will  your  children  go? 
Where  are  the  homes  for  your  boys?  Let  your  sons  start  out  as 
many  of  you  did,  and  when  ten  miles  from  home,  they  would 
be  hissed  from  the  door  as  tramps,  and  if  they  should  make  love 
to  the  daughter  of  a,  western  cottager,  with  that  "wardrobe,"  in  a 
coiton  handkerchief,  she  would  loosen  the  bulldog  on  him.  You 
"lords  of  creation,"  you  "sovereign  people,"  you  free  and  "inde- 
pendent voters,"  you  have  robbed  your  children  and  my  children 
of  their  birthright;  you  have  given  the  country  to  the  idle  and 
the  sharpers;  you  have  made  them  outcasts;  you  put  upon  them 
shackles  and  deeded  the  soil  upon  which  they  stajid  to  another; 
you  have  brought  your  children  into  a  "world  already  occupied," 
and  occupied  by  those  who  claim  your  sanction  by  your  vote; 
you  have  placed  fetters  on  all  the  future  generations,  and  you  de- 
fend the  withering  curse,  the  unparalleled  infamy,  because  it  was 
the  policy  of  your  political  party.  Shame!  Forever  shame! 

Our  people  have  dreamed  securely,  soothed  by  the  siren  songs 
from  tne  silver  tongues  of  paid  rhymers,  until  the  fetters  of 
servitude  are  riveted  upon  them,  and,  when  aroused,  they  see 
themselves  outcasts  in  the  land  of  their  birth;  while  the  cunning, 
with  a  fiendish  smile,  feasted,  the  "people's  servants,"  contributed 
generously  to  the  campaign  fund,  fed  the  hungry  politician  and 
quietly  grasped  the  land  upon  which  all  the  dupes  sang  in  elo- 
quent praise,  the  glories  of  our  progressive  country. 


—75— 


CHAPTER  X. 

LAND  AND  ITS  OWNERSHIP. 

[HO  owns  the  world,  anyway?  Does  God's  children 
own  it,  or  only  a  few  of  His  favored,  idle  sons,  who 
always  shirked  the  stern  duties  of  life  and  managed 
to  appropriate  the  earnings  of  the  more  noble  and 
industrious  boys,  and  live  by  their  wits?  Is  God 
more  partial  than  the  Asiatic  prince?  Has  he  bid  us 
come  to  this  gorgeous  temple  where  nature  has 
strewn  her  fruits,  breads  and  luxuries  with  such  lav- 
ish hand,  only  to  find  every  seat  occupied  by  some 
aristocratic  idler,  who  insolently  bids  us  depart  from 
his  possessions? 

Is  our  Heavenly  Father  more  cruel  than  an  oriental  prince? 
Was  there  a  divine  purpose  in  this  arrangement,  or  has  the 
creature  usurped  the  prerogatives  of  the  Creator,  and  assumed 
to  divide  out  among  a,  few,  the  patrimony  of  all?  The  land, 
directly  or  indirectly,  is  man's  only  means  of  subsistence,  and 
when  man  depends  upon  another  man  for  means  with  which  to 
live,  he  can  enjoy  but  a  small  degree  of  freedom.  Who  owns  the 
soil,  owns  the  people  on  the  soil,  because  he  controls  the  condi- 
tions by  which  they  live.  Surely  a  man,  not  himself  being  owned, 
may  accept  or  reject  the  proffered  conditions;  but  to  reject  mea,ns 
to  accept  a  condition  of  nature,  which  is,  nourish  the  body  or  die. 
The  crofters  of  Scotland,  half  of  whose  earnings  as  fishermen 
must  be  added  to  the  profits  of  the  entire  crop,  to  pay  the  "lord's" 
rents,  have  learned  that  he  who  owns  the  soil,  owns  the  people 
on  the  soil.  The  tenant  farmers  a,nd  farm  laborers  of  England, 
who  have  striven  down  through  generations  of  the  same  class  for 
eight  hundred  years,  have  learned  that  he  who  owns  the  soil, 
owns  the  labor  on  the  soil.  The  honest,  pious,  quick,  patriotic 
and  industrious  peasants  of  down-trodden  Ireland,  living  under 
a  Christian  government,  whose  enlightened  policy  lias  made  the 


—76— 

nation  the  commercial  mistress  of  Christendom,  and  is  giving  its 
language  and  spirit  of  progress  to  the  world;  but  being  oppressed 
by  a  system  of  landlordism,  that  clutches  all  the  profits  of  the 
toil,  that  raises  rents  as  the  holding  is  improved,  that  took  from 
the  country  in  the  dread  famine  yea,r  of  1880  £14,000,000,  or  about 
$7u,000,000  worth  of  grain  to  pay  rents,  while  thousands  of  peo- 
ple died  in  the  highways,  of  starvation,  and  the  nation  almost 
saved  by  American  generosity,  has  learned  that  "who  owns  the 
soil,  owns  the  la,bor  on  the  soil."  And  even  the  tenants  of  the 
model  landlord,  Scully,  of  the  free  state  of  Illionis,  who  takes 
from  them  $200,000  per  annum  to  spend  among  the  royal  snobs 
of  Europe,  have  learned  that  "who  owns  the  soil,  owns  the  labor 
on  the  soil."  And  the  people  of  America  will  soon  learn,  with  a 
more  gigantic  landlord  system  than  exists  in  ajiy  land,  that,  "who 
owns  the  soil,  owns  the  labor  on  the  soil;"  and  they  are  now 
learning  another  lesson,  almost  as  important;  that  he  who  con- 
trols the  profits  of  the  soil — by  freights  or  other  monopoly — owns 
the  labor  on  the  soil,  just  as  absolutely  as  the  other,  though  he 
may  shirk  the  repairs  and  taxes. 

Now,  what  is  it  to  be  free?  To  enjoy  an  equal  right  to  life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  with  all  other  creatures. 
What  is  it  to  be  a  slave?  To  be  compelled  to  accept  the  condi- 
tions of  another  for  the  privilege  of  existing.  In  the  design  of 
nature,  man  leaves  the  soil  as  a,  means  of  earning  a  livelihood, 
as  a  maner  of  choice,  and  returns  to  it  upon  necessity.  It  is  the 
first  and  last  expedient,  for  it  is  indirectly  the  source  of  all  means 
of  subsistence,  and  when  man  can  no  longer  win  the  fruits  of 
the  soil,  produced  by  others,  a.s  a  last  resort  he  rettfrns  to  the 
original  source  and  gathers  his  own  means  of  living.  But  if  it 
is  monopolized,  the  degree  or  severity  of  the  conditions  exacted 
by  the  owner,  depends  exactly  upon  the  sharpness  of  competition, 
that  is,  on  how  many  others  are  being  driven  to  this  last  resort. 
If  the  competition  is  sharp,  as  in  Ireland  and  some  other  coun- 
tries, the  owner  is  aji  autocrat  and  the  toiler  a  serf.  Our  coun- 
try, being  owned  by  a  few,  what  a  beautiful  burlesque  is  the  im- 
mortal Declaration  of  Independence,  "that  all  are  created  equal" 
and  endowed  with  rights  of  "life,  liberty  and  the  pusuit  of  hap- 
piness." 

If  our  wise  forefathers  had  foreseen  the  present  conditions, 


—77— 

they  would  have  declared  that  man  should  have  been  endowed  by 
his  Creator,  with  NINE  LIVES,  that  he  might  have  the  "liberty" 
to  the  "pursuit  of  happiness"  in  exterminating  these  despotic  pol- 
icies. What  a  beautiful  "equality,"  a,nd  how  the  devils  must 
laugh  and  the  ajigels  weep,  to  see  a  strong  man  of  toil,  with  hat 
under  arm,  and  a  subdued  look  of  melancholy,  pleading  with  some 
soft-handed,  perfumed  idler,  for  the  privilege  of  tilling  the  soil 
that  God  had  given  to  His  children. 

Who  controls  the  conditions  by  which  I  live  is  my  master, 
whether  that  be  myself  or  another.  The  necessity  that  compels 
me  to  toil  for  another,  makes  me  that  other's  sla,ve. 

To  call  a  man  free,  does  not  make  him  so.  To  call  a  country 
a  Republic,  does  not  give  its  inhabitants  the  spirit,  powers  and 
privileges  of  a  Republic.  If  Another  owns  the  soil,  where  is  my 
liberty,  and  how  will  I  engage  in  the  "pursuit"  of  happiness? 
Without  a  legal  compromise,  or  acceptance  of  the  conditions  of- 
fered by  the  owners,  I  am  a  trespasser,  and  he  has  the  "right" 
to  grasp  me  with  the  strong  arm  of  the  law,  and  evict  me; 
and  wherever  the  officer  of  the  law  sets  me  down,  I  am  still  a 
trespasser,  unless  he  compromises  for  the  privilege  of  "unload- 
ing" on  that  other's  premises.  Of  course,  the  air  is  free,  and  so 
far,  the  light  is  free,  but  I  cannot  live  in  the  air,  as  I  am  not 
planned  by  nature  for  such  exercise,  and  I  have  no  "liberty  for 
the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  even  by  lounging  in  the  free  light  of 
heaven,  unless  I  first  rent  a  spot  upon  which  to  stand.  Then,  I 
am  an  outcast  in  my  father's  house,  though  born  in  wedlock. 
Dear  Nature  is  the  mother  of  us  all;  shall  our  mother  deprive  her 
weary  children  the  privilege  of  laying  their  aching  hea,ds  upon 
her  pulseless  bosom? 

Do  you  say  I  draw  the  picture  too  strong?  Think  of  the 
power  a  monopoly  of  the  land  will  give  when  population  becomes 
more  dense;  labor-saving  machinery  makes  capital  more  inde- 
pendent, and  the  competition  for  the  right  to  cultivate  a  piece 
of  land  grows  more  sharp  and  desperate.  You  say  these  are  re- 
mote contingencies.  Look  over  the  past  few  year's  change  and 
compute  the  future,  and  then  answer  the  objection  from  your  ov?n 
convictions.  Unless  war  or  famine  comes — neither  of  which  may 
be  a,s  remote  as  we  hope — the  arable  portions  of  America  will 
soon  be  densely  populated,  Modern  methods  have  so  increased 


—78— 

the  productive  capacity  of  labor,  ajid  turned  over  so  mu-jh  en- 
ergy to  machinery,  that  a  dense  population  will  bring  more  misery 
and  cause  a  sharper  competition  for  the  use  of  the  soil  thaji  ex- 
ists in  any  of  the  older  countries. 

But  see  what  this  competition  for  land,  and  war  for  bread, 
has  done  in  other  lands. 

India  is  among  the  most  wealthy  and  productive  countries 
on  ea,rth.  Her  valuable  fruits,  wares  and  merchandise  have  en- 
riched the  whole  English  nation — not  the  people — has  placed 
luxuries  on  every  table  in  Christendom;  has  supported  the  most 
wasteful,  extravagant  and  voluptuous  class  of  lords,  nobles  and 
local  tyrants  of  the  gorgeous  East;  but  the  toiling,  degraded 
millions,  who  produced  this  weajth,  sweat  under  their  tiresome 
duties  for  six  cents  per  day.  I  have  seen  thousands  of  strong, 
industrious  men  in  Spain,  Italy,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  because 
they  were  absolutely  excluded  from  the  use  of  the  soil,  because 
of  their  inability  to  make  terms  with  the  "lord,"  work  on  the 
farm  for  from  ten  to  fourteen  cents  per  day.  Because  others 
owned  the  lajids,  less  than  one-sixth  of  which,  in  either  country, 
is  under  actual  cultivation,  they  were  compelled  to  accept 
these  conditions,  and  except  for  these  being  offered,  a 
"generous"  government  would  have  taken  them  to  the  poor-house, 
or  allowed  the  "human  form  divine"  to  feed  the  buzzards  after 
death  by  starvation.  These  are  not  extreme  or  uncommon  ex- 
amples, for  these  conditions  are  the  inevitable  results  which  fol- 
low all  landlord  systems  when  the  population  becomes  dense. 

Now,  while  I  am  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  opinions  of 
Henry  George  as  to  the  "injustice  of  private  ownership"  of  land, 
I  am  not  fully  persuaded  that  his  remedy,  or  any  remedy,  in  fact, 
is  practicable;  yet  my  argument  is  framed  to  prove  the  exist- 
ence of  the  class  plot,  to  monopolize  the  lands,  the  money  and 
trade,  and  turn  the  profits  of  all  industry  in  the  one  channel,  and 
rear  a  vast  aristocracy,  or  monarchy,  on  the  ruins  of  the  republic, 
and  not  to  defend  a,ny  theory  or  policy.  As  the  land  is  the  basis, 
the  source  of  all  life  and  the  fountain  from  which  all  must  drink, 
the  store-house  from  which  all  must  be  fed,  and  empowers  the  pos- 
sessor to  carry  out  all  other  plans  of  centralism,  I  decided  to  elab- 
orate that  first;  and  if  I  conclude  to  express  opinions  a,s  to  remedy, 
they  will  be  found  toward  the  close  of  this  volume,  At  present, 


am  only  discussing  that  degree  of  private  ownership,  known 
and  designated,  monopoly.  Of  course,  all  private  ownership  of 
land  partakes  somewhat  of  the  nature  of  monopoly,  but  there  is 
a.s  great  a  difference  between  the  possession  of  the  necessary  land 
from  which  to  gain  the  means  of  livelihood  and  holding  vast  tracts 
for  rise  or  revenue,  as  there  is  between  a  slight  indisposition  and 
the  last  stages  of  typhoid  fever. 

The  exclusion  of  the  people  from  the  soil,  as  agriculturalists, 
by  these  great  monopolies,  is  by  no  means  the  only  evils  arising 
from  this  policy,  and,  possibly,  not  the  greatest.  The  land,  with 
its  natural  treasures,  constitutes  the  supply  of  raw  material  of 
the  world.  The  true  and  only  dignity  of  labor  depends  upon  its 
freedom,  or  otherwise,  of  access  to  the  stores  of  raw  material.  The 
soil,  the  mines,  the  minerals,  the  forests,  the  rocks,  and  the  vari- 
ous elements,  plants  and  vegetables  of  nature,  constitute  these 
raw  materials,  and  are  the  basis  of  a.11  wealth,  known  as  prop- 
erty. In  a  country  so  richly  endowed  as  ours,  if  labor  had  free 
access  to  these  inexhaustible  stores,  want  would  be  impossible. 
The  fields  for  enterprise  would  be  so  broad,  the  opportunities  so 
inviting,  and  the  industries  so  multifarious  that  every  taste  and 
degree  of  talent  and  temperament  could  seek  the  employment  best 
suited  to  promote  health  and  happiness.  With  free  access  to 
"raw  material"  there  could  be  no  strikes,  no  lock-outs,  no  pool- 
ing to  raise  prices,  and  no  poverty  for  lack  of  profitable  employ- 
ment. The  ea.se  with  which  labor  could  move  from  one  place  to 
another,  and  find  employment,  and  the  faculty  with  which  changes 
could  be  made  from  one  industry  to  another;  the  inducement  to 
develop  industries  as  near  market,  and  otherwise  conform  to  the 
demands  of  trade,  would  tend  to  a  more  harmonious  Adjustment 
of  supply  and  demand,  both  in  commodities  and  labor. 

There  would  be  no  difficulty  in  forming  great  companies  rep-, 
resenting  the  requisite  capital  for  any  undertaking,  for  co-opera- 
tion between  intelligent  la,bor  and  generous  capitalists  would  de- 
velop results  such  as  never  have  and  never  can  be  attained  where 
one  party  strives  only  to  make  the  greatest  possible  profit,  and 
the  other,  to  perform  the  least  work  that  will  insure  the  wages. 
But  we  find  the  soil,  mines,  forests,  rocks,  and  all  of  nature's 
bounties  monopolized;  and  men  are  now  more  rigidly  excluded 
from  the  wealth  in  the  earth,  than  from  the  soil  on  the  earth. 


—80— 

These  wonderful  monopolies  only  intensify  the  hardships  and 
multiply  the  power  given  by  the  soil,  or  surface  monopoly.  The 
surface  monopoly  deters  thousands  from  agricultural  pursuits, 
who  would  be  dra,wn  from  the  great  labor  centers,  and  ease  the 
competition  among  employes.  They  are  thus  forced  to  seek  em- 
ployment in  the  mining,  manufacturing  or  lumber  centers,  to  the 
detriment  of  other  laborers  and  the  advantage  of  the  monopo- 
lists. Of  all  the  foolish,  unjustifiable  crimes  ever  committed  by 
a  government,  or  by  rulers,  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  tyranny, 
the  granting  of  a,  monopoly  on  coal,  iron,  copper,  lead,  and  other 
ores  and  minerals,  must  be  considered  as  among  the  worst.  The 
copper  boulders  may  lay  loose  in  the  earth,  of  ea,sy  accessibility 
to  a  needy  man,  but  the  mines  belong  to  some  great  capitalist. 
The  deep  coaj  vein,  built  from  the  piercing  rays  of  light  and  heat, 
which  God  snatched  from  the  sun  for  His  children,  crops  out  on 
the  margin  of  a  hundred  hills,  and  thousands  of  homes  are  cold 
for  need  of  fuel,  yet,  some  mighty  senator,  or  bank  president  or 
syndicate,  owns  the  few  thousand  acres  which  cover  these  mines, 
and  the  needy,  but  ambitious  laborer,  must  go  a  few  miles  to  the 
"works"  of  this  company  and  make  terms  with  the  supsrintend- 
ents  for  permission  to  shaje  what  God  gave  as  a  free  gift  to  all. 
With  labor  excluded  from  access  to  the  mines,  it  is  compelled  to 
accept  the  terms  of  capital,  and  from  the  enormous  profits  great 
works  are  erected,  small  operators  crowded  out,  and  then  pools 
and  combinations  formed  which  exacts  a  greater  price  for  the 
product.  With  these  powers,  combination,  and  not  competition, 
becomes  the  monarch  of  value.  Cost  of  production  has  nothing 
to  do  with  selling  price,  which  is  based  on  the  "decision  of  the 
conference" — the  strength  of  the  pool.  If  the  profits  of  this  ar- 
rangement do  not  satisfy  the  greed  of  avarice — a#d  it  never  does, 
for  avarice  fattens  on  what  it  feeds — a  shrewd,  oily-tongued  gen- 
tleman, repairs  to  the  Washington  lobby  and  furnishes  thousands 
of  convincing  arguments — impressed  with  the  sea.1  of  the  com- 
pany— why  this  industry  should  be  "protected"  from  the  com- 
petition of  any  outsiders,  who  might  be  willing  to  give  the  peo- 
ple cheaper  commodities,  and,  armed  with  a  copy  of  this  patri- 
otic law  of  congress,  the  philanthropic  operator  meets  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  leading  "concerns"  and  the  wages  a,re  marked 
down,  the  goods  marked  up,  and  the  dividends  become  more 


~"t 

.. 


"handsome."  The  ownership  of  soils,  mines,  etc.,  has  given  cap- 
ital so  strong  a  monopoly,  that  a  few  great  industries  are  crush- 
ing or  Absorbing  the  smaller  ones,  that  pools  may  be  more  easily 
ected,  and  high  prices  more  secure. 

With  each  of  the  numerous  branches  of  industry  being  rep- 
resented by  a  limited  number  of  gigantic  corporations,  competi- 
tion can  be  entirely  banished,  and  consumers  will  be  at  the  mercy 
of  this  despotic,  centralized  power.  Even  now,  before  the  plans 
are  consummated,  these  shrewd  managers  have  so  perfected  the 
control  of  labor,  that  if  a  workingman  dare  complain,  disobey, 
or  cast  a  "free  ballot,"  against  the  will  of  the  overseer,  he  is; 
blacklisted,  a^id  though  he  may  trudge  across  the  continent,  he 
cannot  find  employment  in  the  same  industry.  With  this  mo- 
nopoly, every  labor-saving  machine  invented,  benefits  only  the 
land  or  mine  owner.  The  raw  material  in  the  soil  of  the  mo- 
nopolist, is  valuable  just  in  proportion  to  the  demand  of  the  com- 
modities, into  the  making  of  which  it  enters,  and  the  cost  of 
making  or  manufacturing.  Then  every  invention  that  cheapens 
the  process  of  making,  thus  lowering  the  labor  cost,  increases  the 
value  of  his  material  to  just  that  extent;  and  to  just  that  extent 
he  can  dispense  with  the  help  of  laborers,  because  that  much  more 
independent  of  them.  Labor  is  valuable  just  in  proportion  to  the 
demand  of  the  commodities  which  are  the  work  of  its  hands,  and 
the  value  or  accessibility  of  the  material.  Then  a  machine  that 
performs  the  work  of  man,  places  a  greater  value  upon  material, 
by  cheapening  the  process  of  making,  makes  labor  more  de- 
pendent. With  a  given  price  for  marketable  products,  every  in- 
vention that  cheapens  production  transfers  the  difference  in  the 
labor  cost,  to  the  advantage  of  the  materia.1  owner.  The 
use  of  gas  as  a  motive  power  saves  the  consumption  of  180,000 
bushels  of  coal  per  day  in  Pittsburg.  It  saves  the  labor  of  nearly 
2,000  men.  It  eases  toil,  and  the  nation  rejoices.  For  wha,t?  What 
has  become  of  the  two  thousand  men  whose  families  barely  lived 
on  the  wages  they  earned.  They  are  tramps  in  the  West.  But, 
we  say,  it  cheapens  production  and  benefits  the  consumer,  and  it 
is  a,  "triumph  of  genius."  What  products  have  been  cheapened? 
When  did  the  price  fall?  No,  it  has  strengthened  monopoly,  and 
given  capital  more  "argument"  to  convince  congress  that  com- 
petition from  abroad  would  ruin  our  industries  and  degrade  labor. 


—82— 

Yes,  it  did  cheapen  one  thing,  labor;  for  the  two  thousand  men, 
whose  toil  ha,d  been  eased  by  this  "triumph  of  genius,"  were 
forced  to  enter  into  competition  with  the  others  and  thus  lower 
wages.  How  refreshing  it  was  to  read,  about  the  time  this  "tri- 
umph of  genius"  had  "eased"  so  much  toil,  that  thousands  of  men 
were  begging  for  work;  about  the  operators  meeting  in  "President 
Jones'  parlors,"  and  deciding  on  a  10%  cut  of  wages.  This  wa,s 
called  by  all  the  "public  educators,"  "business." 

When  the  next  night  the  men  met — not  in  a  parlor,  but  in  a 
cheap,  cold  hall — and  drafted  resolutions,  asking  a,n  investiga- 
tion as  to  wages  and  cost  of  living,  this  meeting  was  called — by 
the  same  public  educators — conspiracy.  True,  one  man  standing 
a,t  a  machine,  and  having  become  a  part  of  it,  can  do  more  work 
— produce  more — than  twenty  men,  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago. 
But  the  man  who  manipulates  the  machine,  wages  as  severe  a 
war  for  bread  as  did  his  Ancestors;  and  ask  the  other  nineteen 
of  their  tasks  are  eased,  and  witness  the  reply.  It  is  true,  the 
productive  capacity  of  labor  has  immensely  increased  of  late,  but 
it  has  only  increased  the  profits  of  the  monopolists,  the  a,varice 
of  greed  and  the  misery  of  the  poor — whose  tasks  have  "been  so 
lightened.  With  all  the  boasted  increase  of  the  productivity  of 
labor,  the  task  of  the  laborer,  to  earn  the  necessities  of  life,  was 
never  a  harder  one.  Of  course,  "genius"  ha,s  quickened  the  "art 
productive,"  but  monopoly  has  pocketed  the  whole  advantage,  and 
the  consumer  has  taken  his  share  of  the  glory,  in  boasting,  and 
the  laborer  in  enforced  "ease." 

In  this  new  a,nd  grand  country  of  ours,  but  in  its  infancy, 
"genius"  has  so  far  "eased"  toil,  that  there  are  now,  in  dead  of 
winter,  more  than  one  million  men  enjoying  this  (enforced) 
ease,  while  there  are  2,000,000  but  seven  days  ahead  of  actual 
wa,nt,  and  a  majority  of  those  have  families  to  support. 

The  divine  mission  of  genius  has  been  subverted,  and,  instead 
of  lightening  the  burdens  of  toil,  lighting  every  home  with  hope, 
every  cheek  with  health,  and  every  heart  with  a  laudable  ambi- 
tion to  happify  the  age,  it  has  crowned  monopoly  the  monarch  of 
American  value  and  the  despot  of  American  labor. 

Because  monopoly  grasped  the  land,  and  thus  the  profits  of 
every  industry,  the  "triumph  of  genius"  was  a  triumph  of  cunning 
over  honesty;  of  idleness  over  industry;  of  avarice  over  gener- 


—83— 

osity;  of  vice  over  virtue;  of  conspiracy  over  loyalty;  of  selfish- 
ness over  humanity;  of  hypocrisy  over  credulity.  Genius  breathed 
life  into  the  locomotive,  and  the  steel  ra^il  shot  out  like  a  ray  of 
light,  and  monopolists  boarded  the  train,  was  hurled  across  the 
continent  at  fifty  miles  an  hour,  and  "marked  up  the  freights" 
along  the  track  to  pay  the  wine  bill.  Genius  pointed  the  homeless 
to  the  "boundless  West;"  but  the  monopolist  visited  congress  the 
next  morning,  and  the  great  secretary  signed  the  papers,  trans- 
ferring the  empire.  Genius  sent  pure  air  into  the  coal  mine,  and 
monopoly  secured  an  "option"  on  a  million  acres  that  same  even- 
ing. 

The  divine  purpose  sent  genius  into  the  world  to  rest  the 
weary,  bless  the  humble  and  elevate  humanity;  but  as  monopoly 
"procured  the  first  interview,"  the  capricious  god  crowned  low- 
browed ignorance  with  the  badge  of  authority. 

How  perfectly  has  the  plot  of  the  great  conspirators  worked. 
How  vast  their  fortunes  have  grown.  How  rapidly  has  the  profits 
of  toil  flowed  into  the  coffers  of  the  cunning  few.  How  readily 
the  politicians  bow  to  the  power  of  cash,  and  how  loyally  the 
"dear  people"  fa.ll  into  line  when  monopoly  fills  the  campaign 
purse  and  whispers  the  party  "shibboleth."  "Clear  the  way  for 
the  king's  chariot,"  for  if  there  be  the  burning  words,  "liberty," 
"equality"  and  "fraternity,"  written  on  a  clip  of  six-cent  muslin, 
and  tacked  to  the  "dash-board,"  the  mob  will  shout  a  hearty  wel- 
come to  the  moneyed  despot. 

Gra,nd  America,  but  recently  as  wild  as  untamed  Niagara,  the 
broad  and  smiling  face  of  which  promised  a  refuge  for  the  op- 
pressed, and  revived  the  hopes  of  the  world,  has  been  divided  up 
among  the  favored  few,  who  control  its  industries  and  gather  its 
revenues.  Those  who  come  now  are  called  to  a  feast  with  no 
plate  spread,  to  a,  world  already  "occupied."  They  see  the  boun- 
ties of  lavish  nature  wasting  in  the  exuberance  of  their  being, 
while  with  haughty  insolence  the  pampered  few  drive  hunger 
from  that  which  they  themselves  cannot  consume. 

Shall  the  Malthusian  doctrine  prevail,  and  these  unprovided 
for  guests  retire  ajid,  with  a  curse  and  a  groan,  breathe  out  the 
soul  which  God  had  mockingly  given,  as  was  suggested  by  the 
nobles  in  the  oriental  tale?  Or  shall  the  doctrine  of  Proudhon 
prevail,  by  the  people  reasserting  their  inalienable  rights,  and  re- 


—  84— 

inhabiting  the  world  as  a  common  brotherhood?  The  former 
seems  the  more  likely  to  prevail,  with  the  present  apathy,  preju- 
dice and  party  loyalty,  and  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  plans 
of  the  conspirators;  but  if  monopoly  becomes  too  merciless,  the 
second  act  in  the  oriental  tale  may  be  repeated  and  the  sun  of 
this  gorgeous  reign  of  cash,  go  down  in  utter  darkness. 


—85— 

CHAPTER  XL 

MONOPOLY  OP  MONEY. 

ROM  the  earliest  history  of  our  country  down  to  the 
great  civil  war,  the  finances  had  rarely,  if  ever  been 
on  a  perfectly  safe  and  satisfactory  basis.  The  sad 
experience  of  our  people  with  fraudulent  banks  and 
worthless  paper  money  schemes,  had  proven  very  con- 
vincing arguments  in  the  hands  of  those  who  could 
not  emancipate  themselves  from  the  old-fashioned 
notion  that  "money"  must  not  only  possess  value  by 
rea,son  of  its  interchangeability,  or  the  representa- 
tive character  given  by  common  consent,  but  that  it 
must  BE  value  in  its  nature  as  an  entity.  While  from 
the  necessities  of  commerce  a  more  liberal,  if  not  enlightened, 
definition  of  money  was  born  and  a  more  liberal  scope  accorded 
for  the  exercise  of  its  functions,  the  superstition  demanding  a. 
faith  that  behind  every  note,  promise,  token,  or  other  representa- 
tive of  value,  which  circulated  as  money,  must  lay  hidden  a  piece 
of  metal  of  a  certain  kind,  weight  and  fineness,  ready  to  spring 
to  the  rescue  when  doubt  arose,  served  a^i  excellent  purpose,  when 
the  game  for  empire  was  to  be  played.  To  pay,  feed  and  equip 
a  million  men,  and  furnish  the  great  field  supplies  and  munitions 
of  war,  required  a  fabulous  expenditure  of  wealth. 

As  nothing  but  money  would  purchase  these  supplies,  the 
nation,  with  strong,  patriotic  men  ready  to  fill  the  ran^s  of  a  thou- 
sand regiments,  with  fields  and  elevators  full  of  grain,  pastures 
of  flocks,  and  genius  and  industry  to  turn  the  ores  into  missiles 
of  death,  stood  ready  to  start  into  action  at  the  word  of  command, 
yet  an  adequate  means  for  marshaling  these  vast  forces  was  want- 
ing, and  the  nation  stood  helpless  in  its  gigantic  despair. 

The  constitution  vested  in  congress  the  power  to  coin  money, 
but  as  the  government  had  no  mountains  of  gold  or  silver,  at  the 
mint  ready  for  the  workmen,  the  word  "coin"  seemed  the  bane 
of  the  nation.  The  idolatry  and  superstition  tha,t  lurks  in  the 


—86— 

civilized  man,  turned  pale  and  cried,  "sacrilege,"  when  it  was 
vaguely  intimated  that  congress  might  coin  anything  into  money 
but  gold  and  silver.  The  "golden  calf"  had  been  enthroned  in  Wall 
street,  and  he  who  would  impiously  appeal  to  any  power  but  this 
ancient  god,  was  denounced  as  a  heretic.  The  financier,  the  day 
dreams  of  whose  life  is  to  heajp  up  great  fortunes,  is  a  thinker, 
and  these  shrewd  gentlemen  had  read  to  some  purpose.  Ex- 
perience and  history  showed  the  power  of  wealth,  and  that  its 
power  increased  by  centralized  control,  in  more  than  geometrical 
ratio.  They  knew  tha.t  a  monopoly  of  any  commodity  for  which 
there  was  a  strong  demand,  empowered  the  holder  to  exact  prices 
corresponding  to  the  intensity  of  such  demand.  They  knew  a 
monopoly  of  land  made  the  world  dependent,  and  they  knew  that 
the  value  which  every  dollar  in  money  represented  ajid  would  buy, 
depended  upon  the  amount  in  circulation,  and  its  freedom  from 
class,  corporation  or  individual  control.  They  saw  their  oppor- 
tunity. They  knew  the  ancient  love  of  the  people  for  gold.  They 
knew  a  sorry  experience  had  engendered  a  prejudice  against  any 
money  but  tha,t  with  real  value  in  its  nature  and  composition. 
They  knew  that  the  business  of  the  country  and  its  activity  would 
transfer,  in  a  few  months,  property  amounting  to  the  entire  wealth 
of  the  nation.  They  knew  that  an  attempt  to  conduct  this  vast 
undertaking  on  the  limited  supply  of  money — coin — would  give 
princely  fortunes  to  the  money  holders.  The  gold  was  "cornered" 
and  cast  into  the  vaults  or  exported.  The  nation  in  the  throes 
of  Almost  death,  appealed  in  patriotic  voice  for  money,  and  the 
capitalist  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  fastened  his  lean  fists  more 
firmly  on  his  money  bags. 

A  false  notion  of  finance,  honor,  and  patriotism  prevailing, 
the  government  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  capitalists",  and  when  the 
Rebellion  was  defeated,  the  nation  found  itself  in  the  firm  grasp 
of  moneyed  despotism,  as  relentless  as  the  Jewish  leaner  of 
Venice. 

Now,  every  man  is  in  duty  bound  to  come  to  the  protection 
of  his  country,  when  its  honor,  peace  or  safety  is  imperiled,  and 
the  service  rendered  should  be  in  proportion  to  the  benefits  of  the 
government  to  the  individual,  or,  as  he  needs  its  protection.  When 
the  great  president  called  for  national  defenders,  a  half  million 
men,  brave,  patriotic  and  true,  almost  unanimously,  from  the  great 


middle  and  poorer  classes,  rushed  to  ajms  to  save  the  flag  from 
dishonor  and  the  country  from  dismemberment.  There  was  not 
a  regiment  of  bank  clerks  in  the  whole  army;  and  if  there  were 
"tellers"  and  clerks  from  those  places,  they  were  furnished  with 
offices. 

Our  country  needed  men  and  it  needed  money.  It  needed 
muscle  and  it  needed  capital.  But  how  differently  our  govern- 
ment dealt  with  the  two  elements  that  were  to  gather  our  final 
victory.  The  government  called  for  men,  and  the  men  had  to 
go.  Honest,  noble  men,  with  no  capital  but  health  and  strength; 
no  use  for  a  government  but  to  save  them  from  assassination, 
were  dragged  from  newly  wedded  wives,  from  humble  homes 
with  helpless  children  clasping  their  knees,  or  from  the  embrace 
of  parents  trembling  with  age. 

The  poor  had  to  go,  and  leave  their  happy,  humble  homes, 
leaving  loved  ones  to  face  the  cold  charities  of  the  selfish  world, 
and  dare  death  on  southern  fields.  They  marched  in  front  of 
cruel  bayonets  and  took  their  places  and  were  patriotically  shot. 
But  when  money  was  remanded,  how  different.  When  money 
was  needed  to  buy  blankets  to  bury  these  slaughtered  soldiers 
in,  the  most  humiliating  compromise  was  made,  and  a  mortgage 
on  the  life's  toil  of  the  slaughtered  soldiers'  children  was  de- 
manded before  a,  dollar  could  be  had.  Though  it  came  from  no 
part  of  the  historic  "calf,"  "gold"  was  deified  and  man  degraded, 
driven  like  an  ox  to  the  shambles.  The  patriotic  man  sold  his 
life,  that  the  country  might  live;  the  capitalist  sold  the  use — not 
of  his  gold,  for  there  was  not  enough  in  America  to  la,st  a  month — 
but  his  name,  his  credit,  that  his  posterity  might  live — on  the 
sweat  of  the  toiling  nation.  Was  the  gold  dearer  to  the  capital- 
ist than  the  life  to  the  poor  man?  Were  the  bonds  of  the  rich 
dearer  to  the  wife  and  loved  ones,  than  the  body  of  the  kind  hus- 
band, indulgent  father,  or  promising  son  to  the  poor?  The  course 
of  the  government  in  hiring,  or  drafting  men  to  fight  the  coun- 
try's battles,  was  justifiable,  but  when  one  hand  of  power  was 
stretched  out  to  take  from  home  a  father,  husband  or  son,  the 
other  should  have  reached  for  the  swollen  purse  of  wealth,  that 
needed  more,  and  ha.d  more  at  stake,  than  the  poor  man,  and  made 
the  law  of  necessity  a  law  of  justice  and  equality,  as  near  as 
ish  can  be  made  as  precious  as  life.  The  same  proclamation 


—88— 

that  called  for  an  hundred  thousand  men  from  the  ranks  of  the 
common  people,  for  this  is  the  source  from  which  they  came, 
should  have  called  for  $500,000,000  from  the  "upper  class"  to  pro- 
vide for  their  maintenance.  Of  course,  a  policy  so  just,  would  be 
too  ridiculous  for  practice  by  a  Christian  nation,  and  the  dis- 
cussion of  so  "visionary  a  theory"  now,  can  only  escape  serious 
criticism  by  reason  of  its  "absurdity." 

As  the  rich  are  the  governing  class,  these  methods  had  other 
objections  than  their  justice,  and  their  feasibility  was  not  even 
suggested.  But  the  nation  must  have  money,  for  already  supplies 
were  needed,  troops  to  be  clothed,  and  even  now  clamoring  for 
pay  for  service  already  rendered.  It  was  a  dark  and  awful  crisis. 
Delay  seemed  only  to  multiply  the  difficulties,  and  while  armed 
treason  shook  its  red  flag  of  defiance  in  sight  of  the  very  dome 
of  the  national  capital,  there  was  not  wanting  plenty  of  able  and 
patriotic  men,  who  denounced  every  proposition  to  provide  for 
the  nation's  safety,  except  by  the  old  established  methods.  Elo- 
quent appeals  were  made  to  save  the  honor  of  our  ancestors  raid 
the  "integrity  of  the  constitution,"  by  disfavoring  any  scheme  for 
providing  money  but  by  recognizing  the  infallibility  of  specie,  or 
"coin,"  as  money.  These  gentlemen  did  not  care  to  be  saved  ex- 
cept by  the  power  of  their  own  god.  They  had  great  reverence 
for  constitution  and  precedence,  but  a  small  realization  of  the 
danger,  or  owed  stronger  allegiance  to  the  aristocracy  than  to 
tne  republic. 

In  this  fearful  dilemma,  the  banks  held  the  government  by 
the  throat,  while  treason  stood  with  drawn  dagger,  threatening 
the  nation's  life. 

I  am  not  going  to  argue  the  financial  issues.  No  question  in 
American  politics  ha,s  furnished  so  copious,  fertile,  comprehen- 
sive a,nd  patriotic  a  literature;  yet  so  successful  have  the  cun- 
ning been  in  forming  public  opinion,  that  the  books  are  unread 
by  the  many,  the  writers  ridiculed  as  demagogues  and  the  policy 
that  is  hurling  the  nation  along  to  aristocracy  or  monarchy,  is 
lauded  by  millions  who  are  prostrate  under  its  iron  wheels.  While 
the  "greenbackers"  would  hardly  claim  fellowship  with  me,  they 
will  most  readily  confess  the  truth  of  these  statements,  as  most 
of  them  are  carefully  read  on  these  financia.1  questions.  As  my 
object  in  writing,  as  before  remarked,  is  not  to  discuss  politics 


—89— 

in  detail,  but  to  prove  the  plot  to  subvert  the  principles  of  our 
government,  I  aim  only  to  follow  the  different  topics  far  enough 
to  show  that  their  tendencies  are  strongly  toward  centralism,  and 
that  the  results  have  been  fulfillments  of  the  plains;  so  I  will 
point  out  only  the  prominent  mile-stones  along  the  path  of  our 
last  quarter  of  a  century's  history,  and  give  a  general  view  of  the 
field. 

The  necessities  of  the  nation  demanded  money,  and  without 
delay.  Congress  a,nd  the  lobbies  of  congress,  and  the  whole  city, 
and  the  departments  were  full  of  moneyed  men;  many  of  whom 
saw  in  this  national  sorrow  their  long-cherished  opportunity. 
What  was  to  be  done?  There  was  no  gold  for  so  gigantic  a  pur- 
pose, the  little  there  was  lay  hidden  under  the  hand  of  avarice. 
Monopoly  had  grasped  it  at  the  first  appearance  of  the  contest. 
When  strength  is  always  confident,  and  anxious  for  the  fray,  the 
golden  calf  ha,d  sunk  behind  the  veil  of  its  ancient  temple,  that  its 
worshipers  might  sing  its  praises  without  exposing  its  weakness. 
In  this  terrible  emergency,  a  new  conspiracy,  wrapped  in  the 
folds  of  the  national  flag,  and  making  subdued  and  eloquent  pro- 
fessions of  patriotism,  showed  the  work  of  a  cunning  hand.  Here 
was  the  first  act  in  which  capital  was  deified  and  labor  chained. 
Here  was  opening  a  contest  between  the  aristocracy  and  the  "ple- 
bian,"  with  the  lower  millions  so  absorbed  in  other  matters,  that 
the  cunning  only  needed  to  be  anxious  about  a  means  for  convey- 
off  the  plunder. 

In  this  trying  hour,  the  "great  government"  reached  out  a«n 
ploring  hand  to  the  great  bankers  for  aid.  The  great  bankers 
responded  with  alacrity.  How?  With  money?  No,  the  capital- 
ists never  loaned  the  government  one  dollar. 

They  "loaned"  their  "credit."  Think  of  it!  A  great  govern- 
ment, even  then  the  most  prosperous  a,nd  wealthy  on  earth,  kneel- 
ing before  its  own  subjects,  and  "borrowing"  their  credit,  for  the 
purpose  of  enabling  it  to  buy  its  munitions  to  whip  the  other  sub- 
jects into  loyalty. 

The  great  bankers,  being  consulted,  permitted  the  government 
to  issue  a  certain  amount  of  high  interest  bearing  notes,  agreeing 
that  said  notes  might  pass  through  their  banks.  This  was  the 
credit  given.  This  was  the  first  "backing"  of  capital.  This  was 
"patriotically  rushing  to  the  rescue  and  laying  their  treasures 


imi 


—90— 

on  the  altar  of  their  country."  But  more  money  was  needed,  and 
the  "great  bankers"  graciously  granted  a  further  privilege  as  the 
immense  profits  plea.d  eloquently  for  their  patriotic  service. 

But  the  war  did  not  down  in  ninety  days,  as  prophesied  by 
Seward,  and  the  rebels,  that  boastful  Pennsylvania  offered  to 
"whip"  alone,  were  as  confident  as  they  were  belligerent;  so, 
there  was  yet  more  money  needed,  and  a  necessity  for  some  more 
reliable  and  strong  method  for  raising  money  was  acknowledged. 
The  "necessities  of  war"  silenced  the  "constitutional  objections" 
of  many  and,  as  a  "temporary  expedient,"  the  wisest  system  of 
money  ever  devised  by  man  was  admitted  under  protest  for  a  brief 
service. 

A  national  currency,  redeemable  at  the  option  of  the  govern- 
ment, becajne  a  necessity,  and,  having  received  permission  of  the 
great  bankers,  a  limited  amount  of  national  paper  money  was  to 
be  issued.  Here  the  cunning  hand  of  capital  showed  its  power,  for 
against  the  protest  of  the  wisest  and  some  of  the  strongest  men 
of  the  nation,  regardless  of  political  party,  the  greenback  was 
stamped  with  certain  "exceptions,"  that  sent  it  out  shorn  of  half 
its  power,  and  all  of  its  respectability.  This  forced  business  men 
to  buy  gold — already  so  monopolized  that  the  holder  could  de- 
mand his  own  price — to  pay  duties  on  imports,  and  the  govern- 
ment to  buy  gold  to  pay  interest  on  the  public  debt.  These  ex- 
ceptions were  ma.de,  to- wit:  "except  duties  on  imports  and  inter- 
est on  the  public  debt."  Think  of  it!  The  bankers  demanding 
of  a  great  government  that  it  make  an  exception  against  itself, 
binding  itself,  practically,  to  buy  gold  of  them,  at  their  price,  to 
pay  their  interest  on  the  "credit"  they  had  loaned  it.  Could  a.u- 
dacity  go  farther?  The  first  five-twenty  bonds  were  issued  under 
the  same  law. 

But  the  limit  of  the  issue  was  soon  exhausted,  and  still  the 
cannon  boomed  and  the  contest  was  more  bitter  and  determined. 
More  money  was  needed,  a.nd  another  compromise  was  necessary 
as,  without  permission  of  the  "great  bankers,"  nothing  could  be 
done.  Permission  was  granted  for  issuing  another  certain  amount 
of  legal  tenders — with  the  exceptions  noted — but  this  was  to  be 
the  limit,  ($450,000,000,  in  three  issues  of  $150,000,000  each.) 

Very  soon,  this,  too,  was  exhausted,  and  va,st  sums  were  in 


—91— 

addition  needed  to  pay  the  exorbitant  interest  on  the  previously 
issued  notes. 

The  sale  of  bonds  brought  in  little  money,  the  revenues  were 
being  lost  through  fraud,  the  war  was  consuming  millions,  and 
more  money  was  needed.  What  could  be  done?  Another  com- 
promise with  the  "grea,t  bankers."  Greenbacks  had  depreciated, 
as  per  arrangement,  and  the  great  bankers  "patriotically  rushed 
to  the  country's  rescue"  again,  with  a  proposition  by  which  the 
government  might  be  permitted  to  issue  more- money.  What  could 
be  done?  The  government  had  reached  the  limits  prescribed  by 
the  banks.  Bonds  were  issued,  vajied  in  interest  and  terms,  and 
offered  to  the  market.  But  capital  was  "timid,"  and  there  were 
few  buyers.  Banks  and  syndicates  were  offered  enormous  dis- 
counts, and  the  banks  and  syndicates,  pocketing  the  discounts, 
took  considerable  sums  of  the  bonds,  but  sparingly  enough  to 
lea,ve  the  government  a  suppliant  for  favors  through  them.  The 
government  had  shown  so  little  skill  in  such  affairs  that  it  was 
no  longer  to  be  trusted  with  the  important  duty  of  issuing  money. 
It  was  manifestly  unequal  to  the  great  emergency. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  issuing  of  the  five-twenty 
bonds  was  provided  for  at  the  same  time  with  the  legal  tender 
notes,  or  greenbacks;  and  they  were  made  purchasable  in  green- 
backs at  par.  As  the  bankers  desired  to  depreciate  the  green- 
backs, wnich  was  no  difficult  task,  with  the  "exceptions,"  and  the 
necessities  of  the  government  for  gold,  there  were  no  bonds  issued 
until  there  were  about  $400,000,000  greenbacks  thrown  into  cir- 
culation. The  greenbacks  so  rapidly  depreciated  tha,t  by  1864  it 
took  $2.85  in  greenbacks  to  buy  one  of  gold.  The  bonds  soon  be- 
gan to  find  a  market,  for  under  the  enormous  bounties  paid  for 
their  negotiation,  and  their  being  purchasable  with  greenbacks 
at  pa.r,  considerable  amounts  were  held,  especially  by  the  banks 
which  had  benefited  both  by  the  discount  and  by  the  depreciated 
paper.  All  the  five-twenty  bonds  were  bought  with  greenbacks 
at  par,  the  greenbacks  themselves  costing  from  forty  to  seventy 
cents  of  gold  on  the  dollar. 

The  "bankers"  patriotically  proposed  that  the  great  govern- 
ment print  a,  limited  amount  of  money — $354,000,000,  but  after- 
ward the  limit  was  removed,  to  be  denominated  "National  Bank 
Currency,"  to  be  loaned  to  the  banks  at  1%,  the  bankers  to  se- 


—92— 

cure  the  government  for  such  money  by  a  deposit  of  $100,000  of 
bonds  for  each  $90,000  so  loaned.  To  further  depreciate  the  bonds, 
that  the  backer's  "collateral"  might  not  be  too  expensive,  six 
days  after  the  acceptance  of  this  kind  proposal,  March  3,  1863, 
$900,000,000  6%  ten-forty  bonds  were  issued,  and  when  satisfac- 
torily depreciated,  were  taken  for  this  banking  purpose. 

To  remove  every  obstacle  and  clea.r  the  way  for  a  monopoly 
for  the  newly  made  favorite  banks,  a  law  was  passed  to  tax  the 
state  banks  10%  on  all  money  issued,  and  drive  the  $238,000,000, 
which  had  stood  the  test  a,nd  played  a  valuable  part  in  abnormal 
business,  out  of  circulation  and  many  of  the  bankers  into  ruin. 
It  seems  incredible  that  such  audacious  measures  could  win  sup- 
port from  the  representatives  of  a  people,  who  were  straining 
every  nerve  and  shedding  "rivers  of  blood,"  to  save  the  nation's 
honor. 

We  a,re  often  entertained  by  corner  brokers  with  the  boast 
that  these  national  banks  "came  to  the  rescue"  and  saved  the 
country  when  it  was  in  its  greatest  peril.  This  preposterous  claim 
is  so  silly,  that  I  am  generous  enough  to  believe  those  who  made 
it  are  ignorant  "of  the  fa,cts.  As  the  great  bankers  had  not  suc- 
ceeded as  well  as  they  had  hoped  in  depreciating  the  legal  ten- 
ders, with  which  to  buy  bonds  for  banking  purposes,  they  made 
no  haste  in  availing  themselves  of  the  national  banking  la»w  priv- 
ileges, so  that  in  1864,  over  one  year  after  the  passage  of  the  law, 
tttere  were  but  $30,155  of  this  currency  in  circulation,  and  just 
before  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1865,  there  wajs  hardly  $70,000,000. 
However,  in  the  latter  year,  the  legal  tenders  having  depreciated 
to  37  cents,  so  that  bonds  could  be  cheaply  purchased,  and  as 
Secretary  McCullough  had  determined  to  call  in  and  destroy  the 
existing  pa.per  money,  so  that  these  national  banks  could  have 
a  monopoly,  this  currency  became  popular,  and  in  3866,  there  was 
$213,237,530,  in  circulation.  This  much  for  the  empty  boa,st. 

Of  all  the  schemes  ever  invented  to  rob  the  laborer,  business 
men,  producers  and  the  government  itself,  this  was  the  most 
colossal  and  most  successful.  John  Sherman  himself,  confessed 
in  his  report  of  December  12  ,1867,  that  the  greenbacks  were  de- 
preciated for  the  very  purpose  of  making  a  market  for  the  bonds. 
John  Law's  banking  scheme  was  not  more  profitable,  or  more 
damnable,  than  this  national  banking  policy.  Of  course,  the  bills 


—93— 

were  and  a.re  good,  for  the  government  stands  at  their  uack,  with 
a  greenback,  but  the  banks  are  but  sewers  througn  which  the 
profits  of  every  American  industry  flows  to  the  great  money  cen- 
ters. They  have  collected  the  semi-annual  interest  on  the  bonds 
deposited,  which  cost  them  less  than  forty  cents  on  the  dollar, 
and  from  the  circulation  just  such  interest  as  the  hard  necessi- 
ties of  a.  people  will  pay,  and  they  have  moulded  the  circulating 
medium  just  to  suit  the  business  interests  of  the — bankers  of  the 
East. 

In  1865,  the  rebels  threw  down  their  arms  and  hurried  home 
to  their  wives  and  their  "Johnnycake."  The  war  had  been  a 
strife  of  Titans.  The  waste  and  expense  had  been  enormous. 
Fraud  and  speculation  had  taken  much,  but  the  exciting  scenes 
so  awakened  the  energies  of  the  country,  that  we  came  out  of 
the  contact  much  richer  than  we  went  in  and  at  the  close,  we 
found  the  most  wonderful  prosperity  ever  enjoyed  by  a  people. 
We  had  wasted,  destroyed  and  consumed  billions  of  dollars  worth 
and  paid  untold  taxes,  but  so  irresistible  wa,s  our  awakened  en- 
ergies, that  production  outran  waste,  extravagance  and  consump- 
tion. We  are  told  that  our  prosperity  was  only  imaginary,  and 
unreal;  and  being  built  on  an  unsubstantial  basis,  necessarily  gave 
way.  What  folly!  No  nation  ever  advanced  so  rapidly  in  real 
wealth. 

Private  indebtedness  was  much  less  than  ever  before  or  since; 
there  were  more  new  towns,  new  villages,  new  homes,  new  and 
substantial  business  blocks,  more  domestic  comforts,  more  new 
farms  opened,  railroads  built,  and  private  enterprises  carried  out, 
than  ever  before  or  since;  and  people  had  better  clothes  and  food, 
better  furniture,  more  of  the  real  blessings  of  civilization  than 
any  people  on  this  earth  ever  did  before  or  since.  There  was  no 
idleness,  no  despair;  everything  was  hope  and  joy.  Prices  for 
everything  were  good.  The  poorest  laboring  man  in  the  country 
could  promise  "ten  dollars  at  the  end  of  the  week,"  and  keep  his 
promise,  for  there  was  a  market  for  every  fibre  in  his  toughened 
muscle.  True,  we  had  contracted  a,  debt  of  $3,000,000,000,  at  least 
$2,000,000,000  of  which  bore  interest,  and  the  money-lords  had  a 
mortgage  on  years  of  our  toil,  but  we  had  to  help  us  in  our  strug- 
gle, $1,850,000,000,  or  about  $50  per  capita,  in  circulation;  which 
General  Grant  said  a.t  the  time,  was  the  "best  currency  that  our 


—94— 

country  had  ever  possessed,"  and  "that  there  was  no  more  in 
circulation  than  was  needed  for  the  dullest  season  of  the  year." 

Smiling  peace  had  come,  and  everything  wa,s  "booming."  The 
world  of  trade  had  put  on  a  new  life,  and  plenty  healed  the  sca,rs 
of  war,  and  new  hope  drove  away  the  tears  of  sorrow.  But  the 
"great  baiikers"  had  fastened  their  nets  in  all  localities,  and  were 
able  to  call  "time"  on  every  industry.  We  were  soon  told  that 
we  had  a  "redundant  circulation,"  that  our  prices  were  "inflated," 
and  that  our  prosperity  and  happiness  were  not  real,  but  imag- 
inary. But  the  farmer,  the  business  man  and  the  laborer,  and 
every  wealth-producer  was  rapidly  bettering  his  condition,  and 
accumulating  substantial  evidence  of  real  prosperity.  But  the 
cost  of  every  home,  and  every  farm,  and  every  business  block, 
and  every  shop,  was  based  on  the  high  prices  of  "good  times." 
Every  debt  was  contracted  on  the  basis  of  prices  of  good 
times.  The  bankers  were  not  satisfied  to  see  the  people  reap  the 
fruits  of  their  own  industry,  and  the  time  had  come  to  turn  this 
golden  stream  of  weajth  into  the  coffers  of  the  aristocracy.  Un- 
der conditions  so  universally  favorable,  there  was  little  oppor- 
tunity for  the  ba'nkers  to  exact  exorbitant  usury,  illegal  bonuses 
for  foreclosure  of  mortgages  and  reducing  the  wages  of  their  em- 
ployes. Too  many  private  individuals  of  the  grea,t  middle  class 
were  gaining  a  competence,  and  local  enterprises  were  so  rapidly 
multiplying,  that  pools  and  combinations  would  fail  in  their  power 
if  not  checked.  The  cards  were  all  in  their  hajids,  and  it  was 
time  to  play  them.  They  had  shaped  the  policy  of  the  politician, 
and  shrewdly  kept  a  goodly  number  in  congress,  and  in  all  de- 
partments. 

Mr.  Richard  Warner,  M.  C.,  from  Ohio,  a  few  months  a,go, 
proved,  by  the  reports,  in  a  speech  in  congress,  that  about  2,200 
national  banks  had  made  $1,848,930,000  and  at  the  same  time  ha,d 
carried  on  litigations  to  free  themselves  from  state  taxation. 
These  bajiks,  then,  were  a  mine  of  wealth.  To  strengthen  them 
by  contracting  other  kinds  of  circulating  medium,  and  leaving  a 
monopoly  of  business  in  the  banks,  was  the  "first  duty"  that  con- 
gress owed  to  the — bankers. 

Remember,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  there  was  in  actual  cir- 
culation different  kinds  of  money,  bajik  notes  and  state  bank 
notes,  to  the  amount  of  nearly  $2,000,000,000,  and  the  most  active 


—95— 

and  prosperous  business  ever  known  on  earth,  was  based  on  this 
amount  of  currency. 

The  bankers  were  in  hot  haste  to  increase  their  power,  so 
the  secretary  began  a  systematic  contraction  and  destruction  of 
the  currency.  Business  began  to  stagger,  but  so  firm  were  the 
wise  leaders  that  "we  must  get  back  to  hardpan,"  and  this  policy 
was  pushed  with  such  vigor,  that  within  two  years  nearly 
$1,300,000,000  had  been  withdrawn,  and  but  about  $700,000,000  left 
to  build  up  a  wasted  country  and  develop  the  new  future.  The 
conquered  South,  which  had  none  of  our  circulating  medium, 
needed  much  of  this,  and  soon  trade  was  paralyzed  and  all  busi- 
ness began  to  drag,  except  the  national  banks,  and  they  increased 
their  circulation  from  $146,137,860,  on  July  1,  1865,  to  $298,625,397 
on  July  1,  1867.  Times  grew  harder  as  the  currency  grew  less,  and 
when  the  withering  influence  permeated  the  whole  country,  the 
crash  of  1873  came,  and  with  such  severity  that  even  the  "great 
bankers"  were  forced  to  their  knees  and  piteously  appealed  to 
the  government  for  help.  The  "accommodating"  secretary  came 
to  the  rescue,  with  an  "expansion"  of  $28,000,000,  which  had  been 
taken  in  and  laid  idle  since  1868. 

This  destruction  of  currency  was  called  "paying  the  public 
debt,"  and  by  the  parties  or  paid  defenders  of  the  policy,  it  was 
hailed  as  the  essence  of  wisdom. 

With  the  contraction  of  the  currency,  business  depression  was 
seen  in  the  increased  number  of  failures,  disturbances  and  crimes. 

The  following  table,  the  three  first  columns,  taken  from  a,  re- 
port in  the  "Inter  Ocean"  newspaper,  of  July,  1878,  the  last  two 
from  Dun  and  Barlow,  N.  Y.,  shows,  beyond  every  question  of 
doubt,  that  business  success  or  failure  depends  so  unerringly  on 
the  per  capita  circulation  of  money,  that  none  can  doubt  the  sig- 
nificance of  these  figures: 


—96— 


CIRCULATION. 


Year. 

Currency  Am't. 

Per  Cap. 

Failures 

.  Amount. 

1865 

$1,651,283,373 

$47.72 

530 

$  17,625,000 

1866 

1,803,702,726 

56.76 

632 

47,333,000 

1867 

1,330,414,677 

36.68 

2,386 

86,218,000 

1868 

417,199,773 

22.08 

6,606 

63,774,000 

1869 

750,025,089 

19.19 

2,799 

75,054,000 

1870 

740,039,179 

19.10 

3,551 

88,242,000 

1871 

734,244,774 

18.47 

2,915 

85,252,000 

1872 

736,348,912 

17.97 

4,069 

121,056,000 

1873 

738,291,749 

17.48 

5,183 

228,499,000 

1874 

779,031,589 

17.89 

5,830 

115,239,000 

1875 

778,176,250 

17.33 

7,744 

210,660,353 

1876 

735,358,832 

15.89 

9,092 

191,117,788 

1877 

696,443,394 

14.60 

8,672 

190,660,936 

Never  were  more  startling  facts  placed  on  paper.  Examine 
carefully,  and  note  the  precise  correspondence;  from  530  failures, 
with  $47.72  per  capita,  to  8,672,  with  $14.60  per  capita. 

In  1867  there  was  about  $2,000,000,000  bonded  debt,  which  had 
cost  the  holders  hardly  more  than  $1,000,000,000. 

These  bonds  were  bought  with  greenbacks,  depreciated,  as 
John  Sherman  said,  for  the  very  purpose  of  inducing  holders  to 
buy  bonds  which  drew  gold  interest,  when  these  greenbacks  were 
"lawful  money"  and  a  "legaj  tender"  for  all  business,  and  for 
the  payment  of  all  debts,  public  and  private,  except  duties  on  im- 
ports, and  interest  on  the  public  debt;  and  were,  in  every  prin- 
ciple of  justice,  payable  in  the  kind  of  money  paid  for  them.  To 
this  opinion  there  had  never  been  a  dissenting  voice.  But  greed 
grows  more  ravenous  on  what  it  feeds,  and  soon  there  were  whis- 
pered intimations  about  public  faith,  national  honor,  repudiation, 
etc.,  and  the  paid  journals  opened  out  the  question  in  long  and 
patriotic  essays,  lauding  our  people's  pride  and  public  virtue  and 
keeping  pledges  with  those  who  "came  to  the  rescue"  when  our 
nation  was  imperiled,  and  much  of  such  sickly  sophistry.  After 


the  most  animated  debates  and  bitter  intellectual  contests,  con- 
gress, on  March  18,  1869,  passed  a  la,w,  making  these  bonds  paya- 
ble in  gold.  If  gigantic  public  crimes  were  not  common  in  our 
country,  this  declaring  payable  in  gold,  what  was  payable  in 
currency  and  bought  with  currency,  depreciated  50%,  would  stand 
out  as  the  most  stupendous  larceny  of  the  age.  The  debt  was 
doubled  at  a  stroke,  and  the  government  compelled  to  purchase 
gold  of  the  holders  of  the  bonds,  to  pay  the  bonds  that  were 
legally  payable  in  the  paper  money  of  the  government.  This  bold 
assault  on  the  people's  rights,  fanned  the  discontent,  and  helped 
to  precipitate  a  panic  which  convulsed  the  whole  country. 

In  1870  a  further  privilege  was  granted  to  the  rich,  in  a  repeal 
of  the  income  tax  and  exempting  over  $2,000,000,000  worth  of 
wealth  from  its  just  burdens  of  taxation. 

To  strengthen  their  influence  and  add  to  the  profits  of  their 
banks,  and  depress  prices,  the  currency  had  been  contracted  to 
a,bout  one-third  its  original  volume;  to  enrich  the  few  and  further 
burden  the  people,  the  public  debt  was  doubled,  by  making  bonds, 
bought  with  paper,  depreciated  for  the  purpose,  fifty  cents  on 
the  dollar,  payable  in  gold;  and  after  witnessing  the  results  in 
business  stagnation,  failures,  lockouts,  strikes,  closed  shops  and 
mines,  idle  men  roaming  over  the  country  as  tramps,  the  poor- 
houses  and  prisons  filling  and  honest  industry  starving,  when  the 
great  elevators  were  bursting  from  the  weight  of  unsold  grain, 
the  bankers,  as  if  to  exhibit  their  mastery  over  congress  to  the 
world,  and  show  their  contempt  for  justice  and  mercy  for  a  suf- 
fering people,  procured  a  law  in  1873,  demonetizing  silver.  This 
is  not  the  blackest  page  in  American  history,  only  because  there 
are  others  so  da,rk  and  damnable  as  to  defy  the  power  of  genius 
to  surpass.  A  portion  of  our  bonds  were  held  abroad,  and  this, 
with  a  determination  of  several  European  nations  to  adopt  the 
single  standard  system,  greatly  interested  foreigners  in  our  af- 
fairs. So  deep  becajne  their  interest,  that  operators  furnished 
Mr.  Ernest  Seyd,  a  gentleman  of  "large  experience,"  polite  man- 
ners and  winning  address,  with  $500,000,  and  sent  him  to  "study" 
the  situation.  Europeans  are  not  ignorant  of  how  easily  public 
virtue  sits  upon  the  average  congressman,  but,  judging  from  the 
argument  that  Mr.  Seyd  carried  in  his  valise,  that  gentleman  had 
greatly  over-estimated  the  American  politician's  character.  But 
—7— 


—98— 

the  "great  English  economist"  probably  drafted  the  bill,  that  was 
to  be  the  last  feather  on  the  Yankee  camel's  back. 

This  wa,s  one  step  too  far,  and  the  long-eared  public  raised 
such  a  clamor  that  congress  was  compelled  to  repeal  the  act. 
This  was  the  first  and  only  check  ever  thrown  in  the  path  of 
monopoply,  and  even  this  but  slightly  stayed  their  course  of  con- 
quest. With  a  plot  so  deeply  laid,  and  every  plan  being  carried 
out  so  carefully  in  all  its  details,  and  the*  effects  leading  so  un- 
erringly to  the  centralization  of  wealth  and  power,  can  one  sensi- 
ble man,  free  to  have  opinions,  doubt,  from  the  evidence,  the 
great  conspiracy  to  subvert  the  fundamental  principles  of  our 
government,  if  not  the  name  itself,  and  rear  a  moneyed  despot- 
ism in  "free  America."  In  no  civilized  country  on  ea,rth,  dare  a 
king  or  emperor  exercise  such  insolent  powers  over  the  national 
finances. 

But  there  is  in  "polite  circles"  in  every  part  of  the  country, 
an  undisguised  feeling  that  "royalty  would  better  comport  with 
the  wealth  and  dignity  of  America  than  this  plain  republicanism." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  shrewd  men  of  our  country 
v.ere  in  constant  communication  with  the  wise,  sagacious  finan- 
ciers of  Europe  in  this  plot,  and,  especially  with  those  of  England. 
The  famous — or  infamous — Hazzard  circular,  sent  to  all  of  the 
"great  bankers"  of  America,  sheds  much  light  on  this  plot, 
especially  when  we  notice  with  what  authority  and  confidence 
it  speaks,  and  observe  how  carefully  its  suggestions  were  carried 
out.  The  "circular"  was  sent  during  our  great  struggle,  and  a 
more  fiendish  plot  never  emanated  from  hell.  The  following  is 
a,  verbatim  extract: 

"Slavery  is  likely  to  be  abolished  by  war  power,  and  chattel 
slavery  destroyed.  This,  I,  and  my  European  friends  are  in  favor 
of,  for  slavery  is  but  the  owning  of  labor  and  carries  with  it  the 
care  for  the  laborer;  while  the  European  plan,  led  on  by  England, 
is  capital  control  of  labor  by  controlling  wages.  This  can  be  done 
by  controlling  the  money.  The  great  debt,  that  capitalists  will 
see  to  it  is  made  out  of  the  war,  must  be  used  as  a  measure  to 
control  the  volume  of  money.  To  accomplish  this,  the  bonds  must 
be  used  as  a  banking  basis.  We  are  now  waiting  to  get  the  sec- 
retary of  the  treasury  to  make  this  recommendation  to  congress. 
It  will  not  do  to  allow  the  greenback,  as  it  is  called,  to  circulate 


a,s  money  any  length  of  time,  for  we  cannot  control  them.     But 
we  can  control  bonds,  and  through  them  the  bank  issues." 

How  wise  he  was,  and  how  carefully  his  views  were  fol- 
lowed. Notwithstanding  the  people  preferred  the  legal  tender 
notes  to  any  other  kind  of  money,  and  gladly  took  them  and 
measured  all  values  by  them,  with  no  reference  to  "price  of  gold," 
t^ere  has  always  been  so  large  a  class  of  "strict  construction" 
old  fogies  and  "shoddy  genteels,"  who  take  opinions  ready-made 
from  "those  who  know,"  that  every  denunciation  of  the  greenback, 
its  instability  and  insecurity,  has  found  ready  applause.  Be- 
cause that  cla,ss  of  people  always  have  a  hearing,  as  speaking  "by 
the  card"  for  the  great  "moneyed  circles,"  many  people,  con- 
trary to  experience,  believe  that  gold  is  and  has  been  the  true 
standard  01  values,  and  that  the  good  prices  of  war  days  were 
not  good  prices  at  all,  but  were  fluctuations  in  the  abnormal  space 
separating  a  "deprecited  paper  dollar"  from  the  "constitutional" 
gold  dollar  of  our  ancestors.  This  is  so  plainly  an  error  that  no 
time  should  be  consumed  in  disproving  it,  yet  many  with  re- 
spectable intelligence  are  held  to  that  opinion,  by  what  to  them, 
seems  the  "weight  of  authority." 

While  I  write,  not  in  advocacy  of  any  theory  or  policy,  but 
to  prove  a  dangerous  plot  against  true  republicanism,  it  may  not 
be  unprofitable  to  occasionally  show  how  unfounded  were  the 
claims  of  the  bankers  as  to  the  virtue  of  the  legal  tender  note  as 
a  measure  of  values.  Nothing  could  be  more  natural  than  that 
the  great  demands  of  the  war,  with  a  fair  supply  of  money  in 
circulation,  would  stiffen  and  finally  raise  prices,  and  increase  the 
activity  in  all  branches  of  business  and  in  all  industries.  Now 
let  us  quote  and  show  that  prices  in  staple  commodities  ruled 
even,  with  a  steady  advance  with  the  growing  demands  of  the 
troublous  times,  regardless  of  the  relative  difference  in  the  price 
of  gold  and  legal  tender  notes. 

In  1861,  before  the  issue  of  a  greenback,  flour  was  quoted  in 
the  New  York  market  at  $5.50  per  barrel.  In  1862,  after  the  first 
issue,  gold  was  quoted  at  $1.37,  and  flour  at  $5.47.  In  1863,  when 
gold  was  $1.72V2,  flour  was  $5.87%.  In  1864,  gold  was  quoted  at 
$2.85,  and  flour  at  $6.30.  But  in  1865,  gold  had  dropped  to  $1.46%, 
while  flour  had  advanced  to  $9.72  per  barrel.  Gold  had  prac- 
tically ceased  to  be  money,  and  had  become  itself  a  commodity, 


—100— 

with  the  price  established  by  a  monopoly,  while  the  legal  tenders 
were  the  strictly  unerring  measure  of  values.  The  claim  tha.t 
legal  tender  notes  were  "depreciated,"  or  measured  by  the  price 
of  gold,  by  reason  of  their  redundancy,  or  their  over-issue  as  com- 
pared with  the  amount  of  gold,  is  another  fallacy  so  easily  ex- 
ploded that  it  seems  surprising  tha,t  it  could  deceive  any  one  with 
the  least  inquisitiveness.  In  1865,  there  was  $431,178,000  in  legal 
tenders  in  circulation,  and  gold  was  quoted  at  $2.85.  The  govern- 
ment that  year  demanded  immense  sums  of  gold,  as  there  was 
$77,000,000  interest  to  meet  and  other  necessities.  The  "great 
bankers,"  who  were  to  receive  much  of  this  gold  interest,  held 
the  gold  which  the  government  needed  to  pay  them,  and  held  a 
"corner"  on  it.  They  established  the  price;  for  the  next  year 
gold  had  dropped  to  $1.46%,  though  a  very  large  amount  had  been 
added  to  the  legal  tender  circulation. 

Now,  let  us  see  what  the  policy  of  the  "great  bankers"  with 
the  assistance  of  British  finesse,  as  set  out  in  the  Hazzard  cir- 
cular, cost  the  people,  not  counting  the  fabulous  millions  paid 
in  usury  and  bonuses  to  the  banks,  and  the  other  hundreds  of 
millions  lost  by  shrinkage  of  values,  and  "control  of  labor  by 
controlling  wages,"  a.s  set  forth  in  the  plot. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  there  was,  according  to  the  treas- 
urer's report,  an  ascertained  debt  of  $2,680,647,869.74,  and  there 
were  claims  of  different  kinds  to  swell  the  debt  to  full  $3,000,000,- 
000.  Now  we  have  paid  on  that  principal  fully  $1,400,000,000.  We 
have  paid  over  $2,000,000,000  in  interest  and  will  pay  $1,500,000,000 
more  in  interest  before  the  debt  is  paid.  So  we  have  already 
paid  $3,400,000,000  for  the  patriotic  service  of  the  "great  bankers," 
and,  by  the  time  the  debt  is  paid,  it  will  have  cost  the  people 
over  $6,500,000,000,  or  over  one-seventh  of  the  entire  wealth  of 
the  nation.  But,  if  we  measure  the  burden  of  a,  debt  by  the  ability 
of  the  debtor  to  pay;  the  debt,  after  paying  this  enormous  sum 
ot  $3,400,000,OoO,  is  heavier  than  at  the  close  of  the  war,  for  by 
reason  of  low  prices  and  depressed  business,  produced  by  these 
same  bankers  to  enhance  the  purchasing  power  of  their  com- 
modity, it  will  take  more  of  the  products  of  la.bor  to  pay  the  re- 
mainder at  present  prices,  than  it  would  to  pay  the  whole,  at 
prices  then  prevailing.  Surely,  Roland  Hazzard  was  right;  the 
capitalist  did  "see  to  it"  that  a  "great  debt"  wa,s  established,  and 


—101— 

have  felt  its  power.  From  1865  to  1867  inclusive,  the 
government,  to  aid  the  bankers  in  shrinking  values,  withdrew 
over  $l,30u,000,000  from  circulation  and  destroyed  it.  Values 
shrank  almost  in  proportion  as  the  volume  of  circulating  money 
shrank. 

But  the  wise  ones,  who  alone  are  capable  of  giving  evidence 
on  financial  affairs,  the  bankers  and  sepculators,  have  told  our 
people  so  repeatedly  that  to  increase  the  amount  of  money  only 
"inflated"  business  and  did  not  really  strengthen  it,  that  many 
believe  it,  rather  than  take  the  trouble  to  think  or  investigate. 
Now,  if  increasing  the  circulation  does  not  relieve  the  pressure  of 
business,  why  did  the  government  feel  justified  in  issuing  notes 
to  save  the  country  from  a  ruinous  depression,  caused  by  a  bank- 
ing monopoly  from  1833  to  1845?  If  increasing  the  circulating 
medium  does  not  revive  business,  why  did  the  people  demand  it, 
and  the  government  issue  $20,000,000  of  paper  in  1857,  to  sa,ve  the 
country  from  bankruptcy,  and  thousands  from  starvation?  and," 
later,  why  did  the  great  bankers  themselves — when  smothering 
in  their  own  grease — implore  the  government  to  save  them,  as 
well  as  the  country,  from  panic  a.nd  ruin,  in  1873?  and  why  did 
the  $26,000,000  issued  by  Secretary  McCullough,  restore  confidence 
to  the  people  and  business  to  its  normal  condition?  The  follow- 
ing is  taken  from  the  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture 
for  1878: 

"The  average  price  obtained  by  the  farmer  has  fallen  off 
two-thirds  in  fifteen  years,  being  99.7  cents  per  bushel  in  1864 
and  31.8  cents  in  1878.  The  last  named  crop,  though  greater  by 
46,000,000  bushels  than  its  predecessor,  fell  short  of  it  $39,000,000 
in  aggregate  value.  The  average  value  of  each  acre's  yield  has 
fallen  to  the  unprecedented  low  figure  of  $8.55  in  1878;  in  1864 
it  amounted  to  $30.64.  The  last  na.med  year,  however,  was  one 
of  extreme  money  inflation." 

Now,  the  enormous  debt,  which,  "American  capitalists"  were 
to  "see  to  it"  was  established,  was  based  upon  these  prices.  Think 
how  easily  it  might  have  been  paid.  But.  the  bankers  did  not 
want  it  paid,  so  they  first  ha,d  it  made  payable  in  gold,  though 
purchased  in  legal  tenders  worth  fifty  cents  of  gold  per  dollar. 
This  doubled  the  burdens  of  the  people,  even  had  prices  remained 
high;  but,  lest  the  people  should  still  be  able  to  pay  it  off  they 


—102— 

procured  such  a  destruction  and  consequent  contraction  of  cur- 
rency as  to  squeeze  down  prices  to  the  present  average.  The  first 
act,  making  the  bonds  payable  in  gold,  doubled  the  burdens  of  the 
people  in  that  regard,  and  the  second  act,  contracting  the  cur- 
rency and  squeezing  down  prices,  doubled  the  burdens  of  the 
whole  debtor  class,  and  thribbled  that  of  the  farmers,  as  the  prices 
of  all  products  with  which  they  paid  were  reduced  to  one-third 
the  value  of  the  time  when,  at  lea,st  a  portion,  of  the  debt  was 
made.  Does  it  seem  possible  that  farmers  will  shut  their  eyes  to 
the  evidence  of  this  conspiracy,  with  the  further  fact  that  these 
great  speculators  held  some  $2,000,000,000  of  very  productive 
wealth,  clear  from  all  taxation,  thus  shirking  all  the  burdens  of 
government,  while  grasping  all  the  profits  of  a  nation's  toil? 

No  man  should  believe  without  evidence.  No  man  should 
write  or  speak  without  convictions.  And  no  man  with  a  reputa- 
tion can  afford  to  paint,  even  a  truth,  in  colors  that  may  mislead 
or  mistify  the  understanding.  The  man  who  would  further  de- 
grade politics  with  a.  falsehood,  seek  to  arouse  a  feeling  of  dis- 
content by  misrepresenting  men,  measures  and  their  results,  or 
debasing  the  literature  of  his  country  by  sensational  appeals  to 
passion,  should  be  forever  loathed  by  his  fellows.  The  man  who 
writes  or  speaks  without  a  feeling  of  responsibility  does  not  de- 
serve a  hearing.  Feeling  the  full  weight  of  these  responsibilities, 
which  cajmot  fall  too  crushingly  on  the  false  author,  I  unhes- 
itatingly assert,  that  the  results  of  the  financial  policy  inaugurated 
during  our  struggle  for  national  life,  proves  plainly,  to  my  mind, 
a  thoroughly  digested  scheme,  whose  ramifications  have  touched 
every  locality,  every  person  and  every  interest;  ajid  the  practical 
operations  of  which  would  absolutely  control  the  circulating  me- 
dium, and  through  its  legislation,  courts,  politics,  commerce, 
transportation,  and  the  price  of  everything  within  the  borders 
of  the  national  domain,  from  the  land  itself  to  the  day's  work  of 
the  seamstress  in  the  dingy  garret  in  the  crowded  cities;  thus 
grasping  the  profits  of  every  industry,  and  rearing  a  moneyed 
aristocracy. 

I  assert,  further,  that  the  whole  national  debt  was  unneces- 
sary and  unjustifiable,  and  only  served  to  strengthen  capital's 
hold  on  the  people's  toil;  that  the  $3,400,000,000  was  a  bold, 
audacious  robbery,  and  the  more  than  $3,000,000,000,  which  must 


yet  be  paid  before  the  debt  is  discharged,  is  a  robber's  tribute, 
levied  on  labor  for  the  benefit  of  idleness,  by  a.n  aristocratic 
policy  which  deifies  wealth  and  condemns  industry. 

Without  making  a  single  extraordinary  demand,  without  ap- 
propriating one  cent  of  private  individual's  means,  with  every 
consideration  for  vested  rights,  and  moving  every  day  on  a  cash 
basis  sounder  and  better  than  the  one  followed,  the  country  should 
have  emerged  from  the  war  without  one  cent  of  debt — unless  you 
choose  to  call  the  present  legal  tenders  a  debt.  Whenever  an  en- 
thusiast claims  that  the  war  should  ha,ve  been  carried  on  by  the 
issue  of  legal  tender  notes,  the  country  is  convulsed  with  laugh- 
ter, as  the  cunning  claim  that  this  would  have  necessitated  such 
fabulous  sums  of  paper  money  that  it  would  have  been  worth- 
less, or  sold  for  "seventy-five  cents  per  cord."  Laughter  silences 
argument,  but  it  usually  springs,  most  readily  from  those  who  are 
as  extravagant  in  the  use  of  lungs  as  economical  in  the  use  of 
brains.  Now  I  assert,  a,nd  defy  contradiction,  that  the  books  in 
the  Treasurer's  office  and  the  public  reports  by  the  Comptroller 
show  that  not  only  could  the  war  have  been  carried  on  without 
the  issue  of  a  single  bond,  but  that  it  could  have  been  done  with 
several  millions  less  money  than  was  actually  issued. 

The  Comptroller's  report  for  1867  sa,id:     (Page  15,  I  think:) 

"Probably  not  less  than  33  1-3%  of  the  indebtedness  of  the 
United  States  is  owing  to  the  high  prices  paicM^r  the  govern- 
ment while  its  disbursements  were  heavy.  OF  EVERY  ONE  HUN- 
DRED DOLLARS  IN  LEGAL  TENDERS  PAID  OUT,  OVER 
TWENTY-FIVE  MILLION  DOLLARS  WERE  PAID  OUT  FOR 
DISCOUNT."  (The  capitals  are  mine.) 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  Treasurer's  reports,  and  see  how  much 
money  it  would  have  required  to  meet  the  expenses  of  govern- 
ment during  those  four  trying  years;  and  if  we  find  the  amount 
of  money  issued  during  the  war,  exceeded  the  cost  of  the  war, 
have  we  not  strengthened  our  case  with  admissible  evidence? 

For  1862,  the  entire  expenditure  was  $475,000,000,  but  $77,000,- 
000  was  for  interest  and  discount,  leaving  actual  necessary  ex- 
pense $398,000,000,  and  as  there  was  $57,000,000  income  from  taxes, 
there  would  have  been  but  $341,000,000  of  money  needed. 

In  1963,  total  expenditures,  $715,000,000,  with  $198,000,000  for 
interest  and  discount,  leaving  $517,000,000  as  legitimate  expense; 


—104— 


but  $112,000,000  in  taxes,  so  that  it  would  have  required  by  $405,- 
000,000  of  money. 

For  1864,  total  expenditure  $865,000,000,  with  interest  and  dis- 
count $583,000,000,  leaving  as  legitimate  expense,  $282,000,000; 
but  $264,000,000  taxes,  furnished  the  needed  amount,  minus  $18,- 
000,000. 

For  1865,  total  expenditure,  $1,297,000,000,  of  which  $468,- 
000,000  were  for  interest  and  discount,  leaving  $829,000,000  as  nec- 
essary expenses,  which  were  partially  met  by  $338,000,000  of  taxes 
and  would  have  required  but  $492,000,000  to  supply  the  needs  of 
the  time. 

The  following  table  will  ma.ke  the  statement  more  plain,  and 
I  ask  a  careful  study  of  these  numbers,  which  are,  from  their 
magnitude,  almost  incomprehensible.  A  careful  study  of  these 
almost  fabulous  figures  will  tax  the  mind,  but  they  tell  the  story 
of  a  nation's  misfortune,  if  not  the  nation's  shame: 


H^ 

a 
P 

H 

Total 
Expenditure 

Interest  and 
Discount 

Income 
from  Taxes 

Am't  needed  in 
excess  of  taxa- 
tion to  meet  ex- 
pense of  Gov't 

1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 

$    475,000,000 
715,000,000 
865,000,000 
1,297,000^0 

$      77.000,000 
198,000,000 
583,000,000 
468,000,000 

$  57,000,000 
112,000,000 
264,000,000 
338,000,000 

$    341,000,000 
405.000,000 
18,000,000 
493,000,000 

$3,352,000,000 
1,326,000,000 

$1,326,000,000 

$771,000,000 

$1,257.000,000 

$2,026,000,000 

Now  remember,  tha.t  had  there  been  no  banks,  there  would 
have  been  no  second  column  in  this  table,  as  there  would  have 
been  no  interest  and  no  discounts;  so  we  find  by  taking-  unnec- 
essary interest  and  discount  from  the  total  expenditure,  it  would 
leave  the  entire  cost  of  the  four  years,  as  above  sho\vn,  $2,026,000- 
000.  But  to  meet  this,  there  was,  as  above  shown,  $771,000,000  in 
ta,xes,  to  be  applied,  which  deducted  from  the  total  expenditure 
without  interest  and  discount — would  leave  a  total  sum,  as  shown 
in  fourth  column,  of  1,257,000,000,  as  the  grand  total  expense  of 
the  four  year's  war,  over  the  taxes. 

Now  to  clinch  my  proposition,  that  the  debt  was  wholly  un- 


—105— 

necessary  and  unjustifiable,  a,nd  should  not  have  been  made,  let 
us  consider  the  significance  of  the  above  table.  You  will  see  by 
column  four  that  to  meet  the  whole  expenses  of  the  government 
and  war,  after  applying  the  taxes,  would  have  required  an  issue 
of  paper  money  as  follows:  $341,000,000  in  1862;  $405,000,000  in 
1863;  $18,000,000  in  1864,  and  $493,000,000  in  1865;  total  issue, 
$1,257,000,000.  Would  such  an  issue  have  ''flooded  the  country" 
with  "worthless  paper  money"  and  dangerously  "inflated"  busi- 
ness? Let  us  see. 

The  Treasurer's  report  for  April,  1865,  shows  that  $1,996,000,- 
000  in  currency  had  been  put  in  circulation,  aside  from  any  species 
of  bonds.  Now  subtract  the  $1,257,000,000,  which  was  the  entire 
cost  of  the  four  years'  war — over  ajid  above  the  $771,000,000  re- 
ceived from  revenue  tax— from  the  circulation  of  $1,996,000,000  in 
1865,  and  we  find  there  was  actually  issued  in  different  kinds  of 
money  $739,000,000  more  than  the  entire  demand  of  that  period. 
Think  of  it.  The  government  not  only  did  issue  enough  paper 
money  to  have  paid  the  entire  expense  for  the  whole  period,  but 
a,n  excess  of  $739,000,000,  or  nearly  as  much  as  there  is  now  in 
circulation;  and  still  we  emerged  from  the  war  with  a  debt  that, 
including  what  has  been  paid,  and  what  must  be  paid,  will  amount 
to  $6,000,000,000,  or  more  than  one-seventh  of  the  wealth  of  the 
nation.  There  was  reported  by  the  Comptroller  to  be  $1,803,702,- 
620  of  currency  in  actual  circulation  in  1866,  or  $546,702,720  more 
than  was  needed  to  be  issued  to  meet  the  entire  expense  of  the 
four  years'  war,  over  and  above  the  taxes.  Why  was  there  more 
money  issued  than  enough  to  meet  the  current  expenses  of  the 
government,  and  who  got  it?  If  the  money  was  issued,  as  the 
books  show,  why  the  necessity  of  issuing  any  bonds,  and  where 
did  the  money  go  for  which  they  were  sold?  The  fact  is  patent, 
ajid  none  can  dispute  who  will  examine,  that  the  whole  scheme, 
the  bonded  debt,  the  surplus  of  currency  over  t«e  $1,257,000,000 
needed  to  carry  on  the  country  and  all  the  advantages  gained 
from  the  national  banks  and  discount  to  syndicates,  were  a  part 
of  the  most  gigantic  conspiracy  ever  concocted  for  the  subversion 
of  a,  great  and  free  government,  and  no  plot  in  the  history  of  the 
world  was  ever  so  successfully  consummated. 

Jefferson's  opinions  were  prophetic,  when  he  said: 
"I  sincerely  believe  that  banking  institutions  are  more  dan- 
gerous to  liberty  than  standing  armies." 


—106— 


CHAPTER  XIL 

MONOPOLY   OF  TRADE. 

iA.VING  formulated  in  detail  the  plot  for  the  acquisi- 
tion and  control  of  the  land  and  circulating  medium, 
the  next  in  order  was  to  mature  a  plan  to  monopolize 
the  trade  or  commerce;  that  with  the  money  monopoly 
would  hasten  the  accomplishment  of  the  first  ;>nd 
most  important,  the  mastery  of  the  soil.  Commerce 
being  the  civilizer  and  motive  power  of  progress,  the 
control  of  trade  moulds  the  sentiment,  the  policy  and 
industry  of  a  country  and  prescribes  the  path  for  its 
social,  political  and  industrial  development. 

The  nation,  as  before  observed,  had  but  one 
thought,  and  that,  to  save  the  flag  from  disgrace  and  the  coun- 
try from  dismemberment.  To  accomplish  this  grand  result,  ac- 
commodating congressmen  served  the  monopolists  in  the  secret 
conference,  in  the  close  committee,  a,nd  in  the  decisive  vote,  and 
wrung  shouts  from  the  populace  by  filling  the  air  and  the  con- 
gressional records  with  eloquent  appeals  for  the  laborer  and  pro- 
ducer. The  attention  of  the  "other  party"  having  been  di- 
verted, the  aristocracy  began  the  game  with  the  cards  "stocked." 
Then  these  plotters  sajd  to  congress:  "Great  stores  of  supplies 
are  demanded  that  we  may  push  this  war  to  a  speedy  and  suc- 
cessful issue.  Wages  are  high,  as  labor  has  been  called  to  arms, 
to  save  our  glorious  country;  and  if  you  will  'protect'  us  from  the 
competition  of  those  'foreigners'  we  will  erect  great  factories, 
develop  the  country  and  furnish  the  needed  supplies."  But,  said 
a  "western  member,"  who  had  not  felt  the  weight  of  this  patri- 
otic "argument:"  "My  people  in  the  West  will  protest,  as  it  will 
be  a  great  hardship  on  them  by  putting  a  grievous  tax  on  their 
necessities." 

"But,"  said  the  other,  "our  great  enterprises"  will  give  em- 
ployment to  many  thousands  of  laborers  and  that  will  furnish  a 
"home  market"  for  the  products  of  the  West;  "besides,"  he  said, 


feJUC 

:: 


—107— 

"our  industries  once  developed,  domestic  competition  will  reduce 
prices  below  even  what  importers  could  make  them."  At  a  pleas- 
ant meeting  at  the  "Arlington,"  the  enterprising  gentleman  of- 
fered such  overpowering  "argument"  that  a  new  tariff  bill,  with 
an  average  tax  of  44%  was  agreed  to,  as  a  "war  necessity." 

So  confidently  did  these  gentlemen  rely  upon  their  power  to 
control  congress  and  deceive  the  people,  that  little  pains  were 
taken  to  hide  their  inconsistencies.  They  confessed  the  purpose  of 
increasing  the  price  of  domestic  goods — as  well  as  foreign,  as  the 
only  means  of  increasing  the  price  of  domestic  goods  was  to  in- 
crease the  price  of  foreign  goods  or  prohibit*them — yet  they  con- 
fidently hoped  to  be  able  to  convince  the  "intelligent"  people  that 
it  was  not  only  patriotic  to  pay  high  prices,  but  mysteriously 
profitable;  and  that,  for  every  cent  that  a  class  tax  took  from 
them,  they  would  be  able  by  some  "hocus-pocus"  trick,  to  take 
m  some  other  credulous  victim. 

The  monopolists  were  a  little  unfortunate  in  the  necessity 
make  concessions  to  such  a  variety  of  interests,  but  as  the 
scheme  wa,s  to  establish  a  class  rule,  and  class  wealth,  these  diffi- 
culties were  plastic  and  finally  manageable.  The  variety  of  in- 
terests represented  gave  rise  to  many  of  the  seeming  inconsis- 
tencies, and  the  necessity  to  defend  the  self-contradictory  policy 
makes  the  argument  of  its  champions  so  lame  and  halting,  that 
faith  must  be  fed  by  appeals  to  nationality,  prejudices  and  party 
fealty.  In  connection  with  appeals  to  the  farmer,  the  laborer, 
and  the  great  body  of  people  who  are  engaged  in  gainful  pursuits, 
the  tariff  schedule  seems  a  "comedy  of  errors"  which,  to  be  seen 
without  prejudice,  would  be  despised. 

Throughout  the  whole  list  the  tax  is  highest  on  the  common 
necessaries,  so  that  the  masses  carry  the  burden  a,nd  the  classes 
are  largely  exempt  from  it.  This  is  only  a  seeming  inconsistency, 
for  as  the  tax  was  really  planned  only  as  a  means  of  enriching 
the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  ma,ny,  why  should  it  not  drive 
square  to  the  mark.  A  tax  levied  on  the  rich  would  not  only 
not  benefit  the  rich,  but  would  be  a  burden  to  the  extent  of  col- 
lection, so  without  apology  or  excuse,  every  necessary  for  the 
comfort  of  the  home  of  the  common  people  was  taxed  higher  than 
the  luxuries,  consumed  only  by  the  affluent,  discriminating  how- 
ver,  in  favor  of  goods  not  produced  in  our  country-  By  this 


tl 


—108— 

method  a  family  or  person  pays  for  the  support  of  the  govern- 
ment in  proportion  a^s  he  consumes  and  not  in  proportion  to  his 
wealth. 

Should  a  millionaire  with  $1,000,000  annual  income  live  eco- 
nomically, as  do  "common"  people,  on,  say,  $1,000  per  year,  he 
would  pay  no  more  toward  the  support  of  the  government  than 
the  clerk  or  mechanic  who  earned  $1,000  per  annum  and  spent 
the  whole  for  living.  This  is  a.  discrimination  in  favor  of  the 
classes,  and  contrary  to  a  sense  of  justice  and  political  wisdom, 
that  would  have  every  person  contribute  to  the  expense  of  the 
government  in  proportion  to  his  means  and  in  proportion  as  he 
needs  the  force  of  the  law  to  protect  him  and  his  interests. 

Thus  in  every  feature  and  every  practice  this  "protection 
policy"  displays  its  class  preference,  and  in  no  place  have  its  ad- 
vocates, even  by  mistake,  blundered  into  the  inconsistency  of 
showing  an  honest  purpose.  They  deny  that  this  tariff  is  added 
to  the  price  of  domestic  goods;  and.  deny  that  protection  is  so 
great  a  benefit.  They  why  da  they  want  it?  Without  any  special 
pleading,  there  is  an  invariable  rule  by  which  any  observer  may 
know  whether  the  full  tariff  tax  is  added  to  the  price  of  a.  do- 
mestic commodity.  Of  course,  there  are  abnormal  conditions  and 
special  cases  that  might  conceal  the  prevailing  rule. 

It  is  probably  conceded  that  owing  to  greater  cost  of  ra»w 
material — high  by  reason  of  tariff — there  is  an  average  differ- 
ence in  the  cosi  of  producing  several  leading  staple  necessaries, 
of  10%  between  England  and  the  United  States  in  favor  of  the 
former  country.  Then  it  would  seem  that  a  tariff  of  10%  would  be 
sufficient  protection  against  England,  if  our  domestic  traders 
were  satisfied  with  the  same  profits.  Let  us  take  an  article  of 
common  use  as  an  illustration  and  we  will  see  that 

THE  WHOLE  ARE  ROBBED  FOR  THE  PEW. 

Take  the  market  for  wool,  and  the  general  statistics  of  that 
industry  and  you  will  see  that  the  entire  cost  of  a  finished,  good, 
soft,  all-wool  blanket  is,  in  the  United  States,  $3.  In  England 
that  same  class  of  blanket,  the  cost  is  $2.70.  Now  allowing  the 
same  per  cent  profit,  the  English  maker  would  have  10%  advant- 
age, minus  the  long  haul  of  freight;  and  the  American  being  com- 
pelled, in  order  to  compete,  to  sell  at  10%  loss,  would  abandon 


—109— 

the  field.  We  would  buy  English  blankets  at  the  price  she  sells 
blankets  to  the  world.  Now  let  congress  come  to  the  rescue,  and 
put  on  a  10%  tariff  to  protect  our  home  makers  to  the  full  extent 
of  the  difference  in  cost,  and  we  could  then  mark  ours  up  10% 
a,nd  enter  into  equal  competition  with  the  foreigner,  with  the  ad- 
vantage of  freight.  Then  the  market  would  be  full  of  both  for- 
eign and  domestic  blankets  at  10%  advance,  and  we  could  buy 
on  the  merits  of  the  goods. 

But  now  let  us  use  a,  fact,  and  argue  from  the  existing  con- 
ditions. Congress  put  a  "protective"  tariff,  not  of  ten,  to  cover 
the  difference  of  cost  of  production,  but  of  80%  on  the  foreign 
blanket.  Now  should  the  domestic  manufacturer  use  his  full 
power,  and  put  on  the  80%  or  $2.10  per  pair  as  on  the  foreign 
goods,  by  raising  the  price  of  his  to  $5.10,  it  is  plain- that  the  for- 
eigner could  pay  the  full  tariff — $2.10 — which  would  make  the  cost 
of  his,  $2.10  tariff,  plus  $2.70  original  cost,  equal  $4.80,  and  sell 
at  the  American  price,  $5.10  a,t  a  profit  of  thirty  cents  per  pair. 
H  is  plain  that  if  we  found  full  stocks  of  English  blankets  in  the 
market,  none  need  tell  you  that  the  home  makers  invited  this 
competition  by  using  the  full  powers  of  the  law.  But  we  see  no 
foreign  blankets  in  the  American  market.  Why?  Simply  be- 
cause the  American  maker  ha,s  not  put  the  full  tariff  on  his  goods. 
In  1882  our  people  used  $20,000,000  worth  of  blankets  and  the  rev- 
enue amounted  to  but  a  few  hundred  dollars. 

But  what  have  the  domestic  makers  done?  They  have  sumply 
kept  the  prices  inside  the  cost  of  English  blankets,  plus  the  tariff. 
I  have  shown  you  tha.t  the  English  blanket — of  given  quality — 
costs,  to  make,  $2.70,  and  that  the  tariff  at  present  is  80%,  mak- 
ing the  cost  in  American  markets  $4.80. 

American  makers  instead  of  establishing  a  price  of  $5.10,  the 
cost  and  the  full  ajnount  of  the  tariff,  and  let  in  competition,  drop 
the  ten  cents  and  sell  at  $5.  The  actual  cost  of  English  blankets 
in  our  market,  would  be  as  shown,  $4.80  plus  freight,  commission, 
etc.,  and  as  no  trade  could  live  by  such  profits,  the  foreigner 
abandons  the  field.  So  you  see  that  this  tariff  law  does  not  en- 
able the  domestic  bla.nket  maker  to  raise  his  prices  to  the  full 
extent  of  the  tariff,  unless  he  divides  the  field  wfth  competition, 
but  it  does  allow  him — as  any  man  can  see  who  will  ask  the  price 
of  blankets — to  put  on  66%and  hold  the  whole  field — a  real  mo- 


—110— 

nopoly.  Many  writers  are  in  error  in  denning  a  prohibitive  tariff, 
for  no  tariff,  however  high,  will  prohibit  importation,  or  even 
check  it,  when  the  prices  of  domestic  fabrics  are  raised  to  the 
full  extent  of  the  tariff.  It  is  not  the  tariff  that  prohibits  but 
the  tariff  beneficiaries  who  keep  just  inside  of  the  tariff.  Given 
a  tariff  of  60%,  and  15%  difference  in  the  cost  of  production  be- 
tween the  countries  concerned,  and  50%  raise  in  price  on  domestic 
goods  will  prohibit  importation,  as  the  foreigner  would  be  losing 
5%,  plus  freights,  commission,  etc.  This  I  think  is  a,n  infallible 
test. 

Following  out  this  line  or  argument  it  is  easy  to  determine 
approximately  the  power  of  the  current  that  is  carrying  all  profits 
toward  the  great  moneyed  centers  and  leaving  the  millions 
empty-handed.  In  1880  we  had  become  the  greatest  manufactur- 
ing nation  on  earth;  the  value  of  manufactured  goods — gas  ex- 
cepted— aggregating  $5,369,667,706.  With  such  gigantic  industries 
it  is  not  surprising  that  the  old  song  about  protecting  "infant  in- 
dustries" is  being  abandoned  for  the  more  "taking"  one  of  "pro- 
tection to  American  labor."  Of  this  fabulous  amount  of  domestic 
goods,  our  people  consumed  over  $5,000,000,000  worth,  a^s  our  to- 
tal exports  were  but  $824,000,000  worth,  full  75%  of  which  were 
products  of  the  farm,  pastures,  etc.  Now  as  the  dutiable  list 
covers  about  four  thousand  articles,  the  manufacturers  not  "pro- 
tected" must  be  few  indeed.  There  are  exceptions,  however,  and 
we  can  afford  to  give  the  monopolists  the  benefit  of  many  doubts, 
as  we  ha.ve  been  so  generous  toward  them  in  many  ways.  The 
products  of  the  dairy,  the  flouring-mills,  and  a  few  others,  rather 
extensively  exported,  are  among  this  class  on  which  the  price  to 
the  domestic  consumer  is  not  increased.  Now  let  us  make  a  lib- 
eral allowance  and  grant  tha,t  "protection"  has  answered  the  pur- 
pose, for  which  it  was  passed — to  raise  prices — claiming,  however, 
that  it  has  increased  the  selling  price  on  but  one-half  the  man- 
ufactured goods  consumed  in  the  country.  We  have  consumed, 
According  to  the  books,  over  $5,000,000,000  worth  annually  for  the 
last  few  years,  and  if  half  of  that  has  cost  a  greater  price  owing 
to  tariff,  then  we  have  paid  this  greater  price  for  $2,500,000,000 
worth  of  goods  per  annum.  As  the  average  imports  for  the  last 
ten  yea,rs  have  been  nearly  $500,000,000  annually,  we  have  an  in- 
fallible proof  that  the  home  manufactures  availed  themselves  of 


—Ill— 

the  luii  average  benefit  of  the  tariff.  Now,  of  this  $500,000,000 
imported  goods,  there  was  an  average  tariff  of  over  42%,  or  near 
$200,000,000,  which  of  course  the  people  pa,id  in  buying  the  goods. 
But  there  were  five  times  $500,000,000,  or  $2,500,000,000  worth  of 
domestic  goods,  bought  at  the  same  augmented  price.  The  $200,- 
000,000  which  tariff  added  to  the  cost  of  these  foreign  goods  went 
into  the  United  States  treasury  to  pay  the  government  expenses, 
but  the  five  times  two  hundred  millions,  or  one  billion  dollars, 
which  the  tariff  added  to  the  domestic  goods  used,  went  into  the 
coffers  of  great  combinations.  To  grasp  the  magnitude  of  this 
va.st  tribute,  and  realize  the  irresistible  current  which  is  carry- 
ing all  profits  and  all  property  to  the  great  central  power,  we  may 
but  remember  that  this  $1,000,000,000  which  tariff  wrings  from  pro- 
duction every  year,  equals  10%  of  all  the  actual  tangible  prop- 
erty of  the  nation,  a.side  from  land  values.  Added  to  the  enormous 
government,  state,  county  and  municipal  tax,  always  and  neces- 
sarily heavy  in  a  growing  country,  this  tribute  of  10%  on  all 
property  is  demanded  that  a  few  may  be  enriched. 

What  a  stupendous  scheme  and  how  remorselessly  it  has 
done  its  work.  If  my  property  vanishes  and  I  grow  poor,  the 
world  may  doubt  the  merits  of  my  poverty;  but,  if  my  property 
is  taken,  and  I  find  it  in  the  possession  of  another,  the  question 
is  plain;  I  have  been  robbed,  a.nd  if  I  have  no  remedy,  the  robber 
is  enriched  at  my  expense.  We  see  millions  of  people  sinking 
into  poverty;  industry  starving;  homes  destitute;  the  middle 
class  being  cramped;  agriculture  crushed;  farm  products  dis- 
couragingly  low;  mortgages  plastered  two  and  three  deep  all  over 
the  West;  the  farmer  in  despair  and  ripe  for  revolt;  and  the  whole 
social  organization  in  hopeless  despondency.  What  is  the  trouble? 

Look  along  the  line,  and  you  will  see,  reared  in  the  few  years 
of  this  "protective"  policy,  the  most  gigantic  fortunes  ever  known 
on  earth.  The  people  have  been  robbed,  and  these  gentlemen  at 
the  "great  money  centers"  have  "the  goods."  The  government,  as 
a  silent  partner  of  monopoly,  has  bound  the  people  with  laws 
as  unyielding  as  iron  bands,  and  enabled  the  cunning  few  to  ap- 
propriate the  products  of  their  toil.  But  this  is  a  digression. 

Because  necessity  forced  upon  the  country  a  wiser  financia.1 
policy  than  ever  known  before,  money  became  plenty,  wages  good, 
business  active,  and  farm,  garden,  pasture,  mine  and  forest  pro- 


—112— 

ducts  bore  good  prices,  the  burden  of  taxation  was  little  felt  dur- 
ing, a,nd  for  a  brief  period  after  the  war.  As  the  government  had 
practically  gone  into  partnership  with  the  few,  by  compelling  the 
whole  people  to  purchase  of  their  wares  at  advanced  prices,  and 
driving  competitors  away,  great  shops,  mills  and  factories  sprang 
up  on  a,  thousand  barren  hills  and  streams.  The  promise  of 
profit  was  so  great  that  vast  schemes  were  organized  to  "develop 
the  country,"  and  adventurers  with  no  capital  but  cunning,  and 
no  experience  but  as  caucus  workers,  hurried  into  some  venture 
that  promised  a  rich  reward.  Worthless  stocks  a.nd  reckless  finan- 
cial ventures  were  floating  everywhere,  and  hordes  of  hungry  cor- 
morants were  besieging  congress  for  more  power  to  bleed  the 
people. 

Owing  to  an  impetus  given  by  this  government  license,  this 
exclusive  privilege,  this  monopoly  of  the  nation's  trade,  by  1870 
the  great  mills,  shops  and  factories  had  so  multiplied  that  a.  six 
months'  run  would  supply  the  year's  demand.  Then  twice  the 
needed  capital  was  locked  up  in  the  factories.  For  six  months 
the  costly  machinery  was  idle  and  rusting.  For  six  months  the 
goods  must  wait  a  buyer;  for  six  months  the  "dignified"  lajboring- 
man,  who  was  to  "have  high  wages  and  steady  employment," 
roamed  over  the  land  as  a  tramp  and  a  vagabond. 

With  this  enforced  idleness  came  lock-outs,  strikes,  riots,  and 
importations  of  cheap  labor  to  supplant  the  disaffected.  Then 
came  the  most  ruinous  and  despotic  combinations  to  raise  prices, 
poolings  to  raise  freights  and  discriminations  and  more  class  laws 
and  decisions  to  prop  these  evil  schemes.  Sorrow  seemed  to  brood 
over  the  whole  land.  Had  not  the  government  stood  a  silent  part- 
ner behind  these  classes,  such  poolings,  combinations  and  mo- 
nopolies would  have  been  impossible,  for  in  every  dema,nd  of  our 
complex  society  the  traders  of  the  world  would  have  saved  our 
people  from  the  despotism  of  our  friends. 

CRUSHING  THE  FARMER. 

The  most  eloquent  appeals  have  been  made  to  the  fartner  to 
stand  by  this  spoliation  scheme,  and  to  reconcile  him,  he  has  been 
pointed  to  the  poverty  and  misery  of  the  Old  World — where  the 
pressure  of  a,  dense  population  has  taxed  the  best  energies  of  the 


—113— 

country,  and  where  the  people  have  been  oppressed  and  overcome 
through  centuries  of  the  same  class  laws  and  landlord  rule  which 
they  are  called  upon  to  defend  here — and  blandly  asked  how  he 
likes  it?  To  clothe  their  demands  with  a  seeming  virtue,  they 
point  to  our  "unparalleled"  national  prosperity,  and  attribute  it 
to  the  protective  policy.  They  would  have  us  forget  the  grand, 
"unparalleled"  opportunities,  that  God  and  nature  gave  us  in  all 
the  substantial  resources  that  lay  at  the  base  of  ajl  propsperity. 

Their  reasoning  is  like  the  Sabbath  school  teacher,  who  ex- 
tolled the  wisdom  of  God. in  placing  the  great  rivers,  lakes  and 
finest  harbors  nea.r  the  great  cities;  or  the  "learned"  gentleman 
in  expounding  the  evolution  theory,  and  arguing  that  in  the 
utilitarian  development,  the  thumb  nail  grew  strong  that  man 
might  more  easily  open  his  "jack-knife." 

Were  not  the  farmers  blinded  by  the  stupidity  of  party  servi- 
tude, how  plainly  they  could  see  that  they  must  carry  the  chief 
burden  of  this  whole  cla,ss  policy.  The  farmers  have  been  taught 
that  this  policy  would  give  them  a  "home  market,"  better  prices, 
cheaper  goods,  and  keep  labor  employed.  We  will  examine  the 
"labor"  topic  further  on,  but  on  the  other  three  points;  let  us  see. 

At  the  outside  there  are  not  to  exceed  one  million  people  em- 
ployed in  the  "protective"  industries.  Then,  if  the  population 
was  but  fifty  millions,  these  "protected"  laborers  would  consume 
but  2%  of  the  farmer's  wheat  or  other  products.  But  the  books 
show  -that  in  1880  the  farmers  exported  40%  of  their  wheat,  thus 
they  are  compelled  to  depend  upon  those,  against  whom  we  dis- 
criminate, for  a  market  for  twenty  bushels  of  wheat  where  we  get 
a  "home  market"  from  the  protectionists  for  one  bushel;  and  for 
the  valuable  privilege  of  selling  these  protectionists  this  one 
bushel,  when  we  sell  twenty  bushels  abroad,  we  submit  to  a,  42% 
tariff  on  the  great  necessaries  of  life.  Then,  too,  notwithstanding 
this  effort  to  procure  a  home  market,  our  exports  of  farm  pro- 
ducts have  increased  very  materially  during  the  whole  high  tariff 
epoch. 

An  ex-governor  of  a  great  sta,te,  now  congressman-elect,  in 
making  a  strong  protection  speech  and  defending  the  system,  con- 
fessed— according  to  his  published  speech  in  the  "Burlington, 
(la.)  Gazette"— that  the  protective  policy  cost  the  people  $1.40 
per  month,  per  capita,  which  would  be  $16.80  per  annum,  an  ag- 


—114— 

gregate  of  $800,000,000  per  annum.  This  ajmost  equalled  Amer- 
ica's entire  exports  for  1880,  and  we  are  asked  to  pay  this  sys- 
tem, this  monstrous  sum,  for  the  privilege  of  selling  the  protec- 
tionists 2%  of  our  farm  products,  which  in  1880  would  amount  to 
$44,108,031,  or  in  effect,  paying  over  $16.00  for  the  privilege  of 
selling  every  one  dollar's  worth,  which  protectionists  buy.  How 
long  will  farmers  be  deceived  and  hoodwinked  in  this  manner? 

We  are  taught  that  the  prices  are  better  under  the  protective 
system,  than  under  the  old  law,  and  protected  articles  cheaper; 
a.nd  the  farmers,  being  too  indolent  to  investigate  and  too  loyal 
to  doubt,  shout,  "great  is  protection."  In  early  days,  distant  mar- 
kets and  high  transportation,  of  course,  made  the  market  on  the 
western  farm  a  low  one,  but  from  1850  to  1860  with  low  tariff,  the 
price  of  farm  staples  averaged  considerable  higher  than  the  same 
products  from  1870  to  1880,  and  the  chief  protected  articles  for 
the  use  of  the  farmers  have  been  higher  under  the  latter  prac- 
tice. 

Now  let  us  see  how  it  has  cheapened  them  and  given  us  a 
better  price,  and  dispel  the  error  that  clouds  the  granger's  eyes. 

From  the  American  Almanac  of  1884,  we  take  these  figures 
showing  the  average  price  of  a  few  products  for  ten  years  under 
low  and  high  tariff. 


CORN.  CORN. 

Low  Tariff.  High  Tariff. 

Lowest.  Highest.  Lowest.  Highest. 

1851  $  .53  $  .68  1871  $  .65  $  .90 

1852  .62  .78  1871  .61  .80 

1853  .64  .82  1873  .50  .77 

1854  .76  .98  1874  .53  .84 

1855  .93  1.15  1875  .49  .76 

1856  .48  .94  1876  .38  .49 

1857  .71  .98  1877  .41  .58 

1858  .58  1.03  1878  .45  .60 

1859  .76  1.05  1879  .44  64 

1860  .64  .95  1880  .48^  .61 

Average,  .80  Average,  .59 


—115— 


Then  do  we  find  a  very  material  difference  in  this  one  of  the 
farmer's  products,  but  it  is  aji  advantage  of  the  "free  trade"  de- 
cade of  over  twenty  cents  per  bushel. 


WHEAT. 
Low  Tariff. 
Lowest.  Highest. 


1851 

$  .93 

$1.22 

1852 

1.03 

.55 

1853 

1.22 

1.80 

1854 

1.75 

2.50 

1855 

1.96 

2.80 

1856 

1.30 

2.17 

1857 

1.25 

1.95 

1858 

1.20 

1.50 

1859 

1.30 

1.65 

1860 

1.35 

1.70 

Average,  1.608 


WHEAT. 
High  Tariff. 

Lowest.  Highest. 

1871  $1.45  $2.00 

1872  1.65  2.10 

1873  1.55  2.25 

1874  .93  1.35 

1875  .92  1.37 

1876  .84  1.27 

1877  1.06  1.85 

1878  .83  1.31 

1879  1.10  1.56 

1880  1.03  1.59 

Average,  1.40 


A  difference  again  of  twenty  cents  per  bushel  in  favor  of  low 
tariff. 

Pork  was  also  higher  from  1850  to  1860  than  from  1870  to 
1880. 

Now  let  us  see  how  the  monopolists  have  kept  their  promise 
to  reduce  prices.  Iron  is  the  most  valuable  mineral  on  earth.  It 
has  done  more  to  help  on  man's  development  than  a  thousand 
times  all  the  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones.  Without  it, 
real  civilization  could  not  have  arisen.  Cheap  iron  and  iron  im- 
plements are  of  the  greatest  importance  to  any  people.  We  have 
the  most  abundant,  pure  and  accessible  mines  on  earth.  Our  coal 
and  stone  for  its  manufacture  are  of  superior  quality  and  con- 
venient to  the  ore  beds.  Bar  iron  is  in  the  most  common  use, 
and  the  innocent  granger  is  called  to  the  following  table  of 
figures: 


—116— 


BAR  IRON.  BAR  IRON. 

Low  Tariff.  High  Tariff. 

Lowest.  Highest.  Lowest  .Highest. 

1851  $33.50       $41.00  1871  $70.00       $95.00 

1852  34.00        55.00  1872        85.00       120.00 

1853  55.00        75.00  1873        75.00       110.00 

1854  62.50        72.50  1874        55.00        80.00 

1855  55.00        65.00  1875        50.00        62.50 

1856  50.00        65.00  1876        40.00        54.00 

1857  52.00        62.50  1877        44.80        48.72 

1858  44.00        55.00  1878        42.50        45.00 

1859  42.50        50.00  1879        45.00        78.50 

1860  41.00        44.00  1880        50.00        85.00 

Average,  $57.75  Average,  $66.80 

A  difference  of  $9.05  per  ton — but  in  favor  of  the  "free  trade" 
decade. 

Here  is  plainly  to  be  seen  the  beauties  of  that  promise  that 
goods  should  be  reduced  in  price  by  force  of  "home  competition." 
Bar  iron  has  been  "protected"  60%  since  the  passage  of  the 
Morrill  tariff  law,  and  to  enable  us  to  pay  $9.05  per  ton  more  for 
it  than  in  "free  trade,"  or  low  tariff  times,  we  have  sold  our 
wheat  and  corn  for  twenty  cents  per  bushel  less. 

In  free  trade — low  tariff  times — from  1850  to  1860,  seventy- 
three  bushels  of  corn  or  thirty-seven  bushels  of  wheat,  would 
have  bought  a  ton  of  bar  iron,  while  with  the  "high  prices"  (?) 
of  "home  market"  or  protection  times,  from  1870  to  1880,  it  would 
take  one  hundred  and  thirteen  bushels  of  corn,  or  forty-eight 
bushels  of  wheat,  to  buy  one  ton  of  iron.  Yet,  the  loyal  farmers 
shout,  "great  is  prpotection." 

The  monopolists  appeal  to  the  farmers  to  save  themselves 
from  competition  with  "paupers  of  Europe."  The  farmer  does 
compete  with  such  "paupers,"  yet  he  is  petted  with  the  belief  that 
he  is  the  especial  ward  of  the  law,  and  that  the  whole  policy  is 
moulded  for  his  advancement.  Save  the  unprotected  railroad,  the 
farmer  pays  higher  wages  than  any  cla.ss  of  employers;  he  pro- 
duces the  most  bulky  commodity,  one  which  takes  more  of  its 


—117— 

own  value  to  transport  it  than  any  other  product;  then  ships  it 
over  a  railroad  made  artificially  high,  by  a.  tax  on  all  the  material; 
then  dumps  it  into  a  foreign  ship — because  we  have  none — has 
it  carried  at  least  3,000  miles  across  the  waters,  then  hurls  it  into 
the  great  bins  a,nd  sells  it  in  competition  with  grain  produced  by 
the  cheapest  labor  on  earth. 

The  grain  of  the  West  sells  in  competition  with  the  same 
class  of  grain  produced  by  riot  and  fellah  labor  of  India  and 
Egypt,  which  receives  from  five  to  seven  cents  per  day;  yet  the 
farmers  are  rea,dy  to  tax  themselves  42%  on  necessaries,  rather 
than  open  their  eyes  to  these  patent  facts.  Then,  too,  suppose  a 
British  merchant  to  have  $142,000  to  buy  Illionis  or  Iowa  corn. 
He  does  not  buy  with  cash  but  goods — for  no  nation  ever  had  at 
one  time  cash  enough  to  buy  half  a  year's  supply — and  proceeds 
to  make  arrangements  for  the  voyage.  Ought  he  not  have  the 
right  to  bring  his  $142,000  worth  and  buy  that  much  corn?  Cer- 
tainly, but  for  the  monopoly  given  American  traders.  Now  he 
can  buy  but  $100,000  worth  of  goods  and  must  keep  the  other! 
$42,000  to  pay  duties,  or  a,s  a  fine  for  coming  to  buy,  and  so  the 
Illionis  or  Iowa  farmer  can  sell  but  $100,000  worth  instead  of 
$142,000  worth,  while  he  pays  the  additional  price  on  the  goods 
after  they  come,  or  like  price  to  his  monopolistic  masters.  Corn, 
wheat  and  pork  are  low.  Why?  The  farmer  who  is 'wedded  to 
his  idol  says  it  is  because  of  a,  change  in  the  administration,  but 
as  the  great  leaders  cling  to  the  same  barbarous  protective  laws, 
passed  by  the  monopolists,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  simply  chang- 
ing parties  could  affect  prices. 

But  let  us  see.  Nations,  like  individuals,  must  buy,  with  the 
products  of  domestic  industry.  A  policy  then,  tha,t  says,  "we  will 
not  buy,"  as  plainly  says,  "you  cannot  sell."  We  erect  a  barrier 
against  our  customers,  by  demanding  a  tribute  of  42%  on  all  the 
various  articles  brought  from  all  the  nations  and  climes  of  earth, 
to  contribute  to  the  wants  and  needs  of  civilized  life,  and  still  ex- 
pect to  sell  our  surplus  abroad. 

But  a  short  time  ago  Germany  and  France  consumed  70,000,- 
000  pounds  of  American  pork  annually.  There  was  a  market  for 
a  large  surplus  and  it  helped  to  keep  markets  "stiff."  But  while 
we  desired  and  needed  to  sell  to  Germany,  and  needed  many 
articles  of  her  production,  we  refused  to  admit  her  as  a  customer 


—118— 

without  tue  42%  tribute.  American  pork  was  fast  becoming  a 
staple  article  of  German  diet,  and  soon  the  market  would  have 
quadrupled,  but  the  German  states  protested  against  our  selfish 
policy — by  themselves  practiced  toward  others — and  concluded 
American  pork  was  not  healthy,  and  in  a  rage  the  great  premier 
swore  that  no  American  hog  could  stick  its  nose  in  German  af- 
fairs. A  market  for  this  surplus  is  gone;  the  customers  are  driven 
away,  and  the  farmers  told  by  the  monopoly  blowers,  that  pork 
is  low  because  there  is  a  president  labeled  "Democrat,"  instead  of 
"Republican."  Can  the  farmers  see  in  this  expulsion  of  their  cus- 
tomers a  cause  for  low-priced  pork?  France  was  one  of  the  best 
customers  for  our  wheat.  These  refined  people  desired  the  fine, 
white  bread  from  American  wheat  fields.  But  the  hats,  gloves, 
cloths,  and  fine  silks  and  dress  goods  that  delight  American  wives 
and  daughters,  were  rigidiy  excluded,  except  on  the  customary 
conditions  of  tribute.  With  our  high  civilization  we  needed  vast 
quantities  of  her  fine  finished  goods.  But  to  keep  ourselves  from 
doing  what  we  desired  to  do,  to  prevent  ourselves  from  buying 
her  fine  goods  at  prices  that  would  have  robed  the  wife  and 
daughter  of  a  common  farmer  or  business  man  as  beautifully  as 
the  present  banker's  doll,  we  refused  to  deal,  preferring  to  pay 
twice  the  price  for  less  desirable  goods  of  home  make.  But  our 
misfortune  does  not  stop  here,  for  France  not  being  able  to  sell 
to  us,  could  not  buy,  and  with  a  wisdom  applauded  in  America, 
she  placed,  a  few  weeks  ago,  a  tax  of  twenty  cents  per  bushel  on 
American  wheat.  Can  the  farmers  see  any  reason  for  low-priced 
wheat,  when  the  leading  nations  of  the  world  are  driven  to  boy- 
cott the  American  farmers?  England  bought  as  much  of  us  as 
all  the  rest  of  the  world.  But  a  jealous  hatred  toward  our  best 
customer,  one  that  desired  to  buy  what  we  needed  to  sell,  and 
was  anxious  to  furnish  what  we  sorely  needed,  we  refused  to  deal 
with,  and  with  a  broad  statesmanship,  unknown  to  other  na- 
tions, she  opens  up  great  fields  in  other  countries,  and  leaves  us 
with  our  full  bins  and  unsold  crops,  want  and  selfishness. 

Hug  your  chains,  mutter  your  eloquent  complaints,  honest 
grangers,  for  your  customers  have  gone  and  have  gone  to  stay; 
your  low  prices  will  keep  you  company  in  your  dreary  mood,  and 
you  maj-  ponder  upon  the  beauties  of  "home  markets" — for  the 
monopolists. 


f  • 

: 


—119— 

In  the  meantime,  you  can  continue  to  pay  60%  extra  for  your 
iron,  70%  for  your  blankets,  90%  for  your  woolen  shirts,  and 
press  the  soft  hand  of  the  fellow  who  so  kindly  guarded  over 
your  patriotism  on  election  day.  Yes,  protection  is  a  grand 
thing — for  the  rich. 

During  the  last  campaign  in  Pennsylvania,  a  western  gen- 
tleman was  talking  with  a  prominent  iron  maker,  and  the  con- 
versation turning  on  the  congressional  contest;  and  the  western 
man  expressing  his  surprise  at  the  choico  of  a  Democrat  by  his 
friend,  who  was,  a,  Republican,  he  said:  "We  don't  care  much 
for  a  man's  party,  but  his  politics  must  be  protection.  We  man- 
age to  have  'protectionists'  nominated  by  both  parties,  and  elect 
the  strongest  one.  If  a  doubtful  man  is  nominated,  we  take  the 
protectionist,  and  if  it  takes  five,  or  thirty  thousand  dollars,  we 
ect  him  all  the  same" — to  benefit  labor. 

In  the  meantime,  at  present  prices,  when  will  the  mortgage 
e  redeemed  and  the  people  enjoy  their  own  earnings?  This 
policy  has  cheapened  the  farmer's  products,  by  keeping  away  his 
customers,  and  raised  the  price  of  his  necessities,  by  keeping  out 
those  who  desired  to  sell  to  him  cheap. 


THE   COMMERCIAL  MARINE. 


One  of  the  saddest  pictures  presented  by  this  protective  policy, 
is  the  utter  annihilation  of  our  commercial  marine.  No  nation  in 
the  history  of  the  world  ever  developed  a  grand  civilization  with- 
out a  commercial  marine  that  explored  the  seas,  discovered  foreign 
countries  ajid  exchanged  products  with  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
God  made  the  world  on  a  free  trade  plan,  giving  every  spot  of 
soil,  and  every  variety  of  climate,  and  every  condition  of  tem- 
perature a  peculiar  adaptability  for  certain  classes  of  products, 
a,nd  He  made  His  children  in  conformity  with  the  plan,  giving 
them  a  varied  taste  for  all  products,  and  a  desire  to  explore  all 
regions  and  enjoy  the  fruits  of  all  climes,  and  possess  them  by  a 
system  of  exchanging  for  all  others,  those  things  which  nature 
designed  for  the  locality  in  which  the  lot  of  each  was  placed. 
This  innate  desire,  this  insatiable  appetite,  this  sleepless  eager- 
ness to  inquire,  to  know  and  explore,  developed  the  ship  from 
the  dug-out,  and  the  merchant  from  the  barbarian.  Tyre  and 


—120— 

Sidon  and  Carthage  and  Greece  and  all  the  nations  in  whose  foot- 
steps we  so  closely  follow,  that  we  are  little  more  than  imitators, 
won  ail  tneir  glory  and  made  all  their  progress,  through  the  civ- 
ilizing power  of  their  commercial  enterprise,  furnishing  the  re- 
lentless spirits  that  explored  and  new-fashioned  the  tastes,  habits 
ajnd  sentiments  of  the  then  known  world.  As  a  maratime  people, 
our  early  career  was  a  glorious  one;  the  achievements  of  our 
mariners  being  among  the  most  romantic  and  brilliant  in  mod- 
ern history.  The  active  temperament  of  the  typical  American, 
with  his  proud,  daring  spirit,  fits  him  as  the  mariner  par  ex- 
cellence. 

In  1859,  the  finest  ship-building  industry  in  the  world  was 
ours.  It  was  next  to  agriculture  in  importance.  In  the  various 
industries  directly  connected  with  it,  there  were  about  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  men  employed.  We  sold  maritime  Eng- 
land her  best  ships.  Piracy  vanished  from  the  seas  before  our 
fast-running  clippers.  We  carried  one-third  of  the  world's  ton- 
nage, and  three-fourths  of  our  own  products.  The  American 
sailor,  the  American  ship,  and  the  American  trader  were  at  home 
in  every  port  on  earth,  and  the  grand  old  flag  danced  gaily  on 
the  crest  of  every  wa,ve.  What  a  glorious  career  was  marked  out 
for  "maritime  America." 

But  protection  came,  and  commerce,  ashamed  to  keep  such 
company,  bowed  a  long  farewell.  As  the  jiew  system  bade  us 
buy  and  sell  at  home,  there  was  little  need  of  ships.  The  glory 
of  maritime  America"  has  departed.  The  restless  spirit  of  the 
American  is  caged,  and  has  become  an  accountant  for  some  local 
magnate.  The  American  ship  has  gone  down  before  this  with- 
ering policy.  The  flag  is  driven  from  the  sea,s,  and  our  carrying 
trade — the  greatest  on  earth — is  handed  over  to  enterprising,  ra- 
pacious England.  Our  bulky  products,  our  commerce  and  our- 
selves— when  we  venture  to  "take  water" — are  protected  by  a  for- 
eign flag.  Today,  we  carry  less  than  15%  of  our  own  products 
and  less  of  the  world's  tonnage  than  thirty  years  ago. 

"BRITISH   GOLD." 

The  shrewd,  suppliant  pleaders  for  class  favor  deny  their 
ability  to  compete  with  other  nations  in  our  market,  and  to 


—121— 

strengthen  their  ca,use  they  teach  the  people  that  those  who  op- 
pose this  system  are  but  emissaries  of  intriguing  foreigners,  who 
desire  to  remove  our  tariff  laws,  that  they  may  "flood"  our  coun- 
try with  "cheap  goods."  It  is  hard  to  conceive  how  a  person 
could  be  alarmed  at  the  threat  of  good  bargains.  Of  course,  they 
who  sell  desire  to  buy,  and  when  a,  person  or  a  people  offer  to 
sell  goods  cheap,  it  means  that  the  person  or  people  want  some- 
thing which  the  other  party  has,  and  the  intensity  of  the  desire 
must  correspond  with  the  degree  of  cheapness  suggested.  Buy- 
ing cheap,  then,  is  in  effect,  selling  dear;  that  is,  it  means  the 
getting  of  a  fair  supply  of  another's  goods  for  wha,t  we  spare. 
When  a  person  dares  assume  to  have  a  right  to  spend  his  earn- 
ings where  he  can  buy  at  the  best  advantage,  and  of  whom  he 
pleases,  without  congressional  interference,  the  supplicant  for 
favors  becomes  insolent,  and  the  ta,unt  of  being  bribed  by  "British 
gold"  is  expected  to  silence  him,  or,  at  least,  to  turn  to  scorn  his 
arguments  among  men.  It  would  hardly  seem  necessary  with 
sensible  men  to  wait  to  be  bribed  to  defend  their  right  to  buy 
all  they  could  with  their  money  and  deal  with  whom  they  chose. 
To  believe  that  British  merchants  would  pay  Americans  LO  agi- 
tate a  tariff  reform  in  this  country,  shows  a  degree  of  mental 
plasticity  that  is  truly  remarkable  for  a  people  with  so  much 
egotism. 

The  effects  of  our  tariff  la,ws  have  a  most  wonderful  benefi- 
cial influence  on  English  commerce.  A  law  which  says,  ''them 
shalt  not  buy  of  the  nations  round  about,"  says  just  as  truly, 
"you  cannot  sell  to  the  nations  round  about."  The  tariff  isolates 
a  nation  to  a,  degree  exactly  in  harmony  with  the  pe*-  mu  of 
tax.  This,  in  the  ci>se  under  consideration,  leaves  the  world  for 
England  to  "wrestle  with.'  Our  tariff  laws  have  greatly  increase-] 
the  cost  of  production  in  all  luarufacturing  enterprises,  by  levy- 
ing a  tariff  on  so  many  articles  that  are  raw,  or  partially  ra,w 
material;  and  if  there  is  a  grain  of  truth  in  the  oft-repeated  dec- 
lara,tion  that  our  home  makers  cannot  compete  with  foreigners 
in  our  own  markets,  it  must  be  impossible  for  us  to  compete  with 
them  in  foreign  markets,  especially  as  those  with  whom  we  must 
compete,  have  a  "corner"  on  our  carrying  trade,  and  can  charge 
us  such  freights  as  they  choose. 

We  are  the  greatest  manufacturing  people  on  earth,  yet  our 


—122— 

manufacturers  are  so  narrow  and  selfish  that  they  are  cramped 
to  one  market,  a  monopoly  of  the  trade  of  one  nation,  to  fifty 
million  people.  But  while  this  short-sighted  policy  gives  our 
home  makers  the  monopoly  of  the  tra,de  of  fifty  millions  it  en- 
tirely exclude  them  from  over  eleven  times  fifty  millions;  and 
among  all  these  people,  England  has  a  virtual  supremacy,  al- 
most monopoly. 

I  have  visited  every  manufacturing  center  in  the  British 
Isles,  and  most  of  those  in  Europe,  besides  all  of  those  in  the 
United  States,  a,nd  the  contrast  is  most  surprising.  The  shops 
of  England  have  none  of  the  nervous,  anxious  activity,  that  you 
find  in  America,  evidencing  a  haste  to  get  rich  today,  so  as  to 
retire  tomorrow,  but  a  steady,  reliable,  substantial  appearance, 
like  the  flowing  of  a  great  river.  Then  in  England  there  are  no 
vast  stores  of  fabrics  waiting  a  market.  There  are  thousands 
of  boxes,  bajes  and  packages,  and  marked  in  all  languages,  for 
all  nations,  all  people  and  all  climes.  There  is  no  waste,  as  there 
is  a  demand  for  wares  made  from  every  particle,  kind  and  class 
of  material.  The  shrewd  traders  know  just  about  the  demand 
of  all  nations,  and  just  the  class  of  goods  wanted  and  with  what 
the  people  must  pay.  A  hundred  ships,  with  the  queerest  peo- 
ples on  earth,  American,  Russian,  Turk,  Asiatic,  Spanish,  Mexi- 
can, etc.,  daily  turn  their  strong  prows  to  every  wind  and  carry 
Britain's  flag,  Britain's  goods  and  Britain's  language  to  all  hu- 
manity. Great,  rich,  proud,  active,  energetic,  ingenious,  indus- 
trious, egotistical  America,  is  out  of  the  race,  and  avarice  puts 
a  finger  of  silence  on  the  polluted  lips  of  ignorance,  that  none 
may  be  allowed  to  protest  against  this  humiliation. 

I  have  been  at  the  great  manufacturing  centers  of  our  coun- 
try, and  looked  with  astonished  wonder  at  the  stores  of  goods 
waiting  for  the  one  customer — the  American  people — to  buy. 
There  is  bustle  and  activity,  but  there  is  a  sameness  in  kinds, 
classes,  varieties  and  qualities  of  articles,  a,s  compared  with  the 
English  system,  as  is  tiresome  to  the  mind,  and  the  "bustle  and 
activity"  lasts  hardly  more  than  half  the  year. 

I  never  saw  an  intelligent  merchant  or  manufacturer  in  Eng- 
land or  Scotland  who  was  not  anxious  for  the  perpetuation  of 
a  system  that  transferred  to  them,  without  a  struggle,  the  carry- 
ing trade  and  the  commerce  of  the  world.  None  knew  better  than 


WHY  WE  CAN  COMPETE. 


—123— 

the  British  merchant,  than  that,  with  our  better  wages,  more  in- 
telligent, active,  ingenious,  industrious  labor,  and  better  soil, 
richer  mines,  grander  forests  and  most  fabulous  and  accessible 
ra,w  material,  America  could  drive  English  traders  from  every 
market,  her  ships  from  every  s'ea,  and  win  with  easy  contest  the 
commercial  supremacy  of  the  world.  If  there  is  any  trait  in 
American  character  for  which  the  business  Johnny  Bull  has  a 
happy  contempt,  it  is  our  refined  selfishness  of  exclusion,  that 
surrenders  the  beauties  a^nd  profits  of  the  gay  and  enchanting 
world,  that  keeps  us  loitering  under  our  own  fig  tree,  singing 
the  praise  of  our  own  achievements. 

We  are  pre-eminently  a  people  earnestly  engaged  in  the  pur- 
suits of  peace.  We  have  no  army,  no  martial  spirit  and  only  a 
memory  of  war,  yet  we  boa,st  that  we  could  ''whip"  the  world; 
though  all  the  nations  of  Europe  are  armed  to  the  teeth,  well 
drilled,  disciplined,  and  ready  to  march  on  an  hour's  notice. 
What  melancholy  folly  to  boast  of  our  strength  in  that  of  which 
we  know  nothing,  and  shrink  tremblingly  away  from  a,  contest 
in  the  arts  of  peace,  in  which  we  lead  the  world.  Were  it  not 
so  unblushing  a  falsehood,  what  a  humiliating  confession  it  would 
be.  Because  grander  opportunities  have  developed  a  grander 
manhood;  we,  as  a  nation,  possess  more  strength,  more  endur- 
ance, more  activity,  more  brain  and  more  genius.  Because  of 
greater  promise  of  reward,  invention  has  given  us  better  meth- 
ods; and  longer  hours  and  better  opportunities  have  given  us 
better  profits.  The  average  coal  mine  in  England,  or  the  Brit- 
ish Isles,  is  fourteen  hundred  feet  deep;  and  a,ll  are  wet  mines, 
and  operated  at  great  expense.  Think  of  the  coal  mines  of 
Pennsylvania  or  Virginia,  with  veins  ten  feet  thick  and  almost 
level  with  the  surface,  needing  protection  from  the  competition 
of  such  mines,  in  the  American  market.  The  iron  mines  of  Eng- 
land have  a,n  average  depth  of  four  hundred  feet  and  are  all 
"wet  mines"  and  worked  at  great  expense.  Compare  these  mines 
with  ours  that  stand  up  in  mountains  kissing  the  very  clouas, 
and  ask  how  much  protection  we  need  in  competing  with  Eng- 
land in  our  own  country.  Then,  too,  her  timber,  her  wool,  her 


—124— 

bread  and  meat,  her  almost  everything,  she  brings  from  hajf 
way  around  the  world,  and  while  we  have  the  cheapest  and  most 
abundant  raw  material  bordering  on  our  bread  fields  and  beef 
pastures,  we  call  in  aid  the  la.w  to  enable  us  to  compete  with 
England.  Notwithstanding  her  cursed  landlord  system  drives 
many  of  her  people  to  seek  work  in  her  great  shops  and  fac- 
tories, she  pays  as  much  wages  in  proportion  to  the  productive 
capacity  of  her  laboring  men  as  do  the  Americans,  and  yet  we 
shrink  from  a  fair  competition  with  her  in  our  own  markets. 
What  an  insult  to  American  genius. 

The  American  mine  owner  is  "protected"  seventy-five  cents 
per  ton,  a,nd  pays  fifty  cents  per  ton  for  his  mining.  How  gen- 
erous! How  wise  for  a  great  government  to  give  a  few  men  a 
monopoly  of  the  mines,  and  then  give  them  a  greater  advant- 
age still  by  driving  away  competitors,  that  they  may  demand 
a  greater  price  for  all  that  warms  and  cheers  the  humblest  fire- 
sides of  cold  America. 

To  push  the  great  centralizing  scheme  and  build  up  the 
gigantic  fortunes  that  spread  the  beaunteous  mori&afee  on  the 
western  farm,  these  favored  classes  are  "so  protected"  that  if 
combinations  stand  a,nd  pools  exert  their  full  power,  their  min- 
ing costs  twenty-five  cents  per  ton  less  than  nothing;  as  they 
are  protected  seventy-five  cents  and  pay  but  fifty.  Recent  in- 
vestigations develop  the  fact  that  the  labor  cost  of  a  ton  of  pig 
iron  is  sixty  cents  greater  in  America  than  in  England.  But  the 
American  maker  is  protected  six  dollars  per  ton.  If  protection 
helps  labor  I  grant  the  laboring  man  the  sixty  cents  per  ton, 
but  who,  in  God's  name,  gets  the  other  five  dollars  and  forty 
cents?  This  goes  into  the  manufacturer's  palace;  into  the  fund 
that  persuades  the  dignified  laboring  man  to  vote  for  the  per- 
petuation of  the  policy;  tha,t  buys  legislatures  and  courts;  fur- 
nishes "convincing  arguments"  to  congressmen,  and  sends  the 
wives  and  daughters  of  the  manufacturers  and  political  bosses 
to  Paris,  and  the  families  of  the  dignified  laboring  man  to  the 
poor-house.  If  the  homes  of  our  laboring  people  are  more  com- 
fortable and  happy  by  reason  of  these  class  laws;  which  assume 
to  promote  their  welfare,  what  would  they  have  been  without  this 
generous  interference?  If  protective  laws  will  give  better  prices 
for  farm  products  a,nd  lift  the  mortgage;  will  give  better  wages 


—125— 

to  labor;  clothe  the  ragged;  feed  the  hungry;  drive  pa,le  want 
from  the  abode  of  poverty;  let  the  people  shout,  the  horns  blow, 
the  cannons  boom  until  the  great  American  congress  raises  the 
tariff  1,000%,  or  until  every  idle  workman  returns  to  his  employ- 
ment, every  farmer  breaks  the  shackles  of  debt  a,nd  every  lean 
starvling  laughs  with  joy. 

But  what  folly!  The  centralizing  scheme  was  meant  to  reduce 
the  millions  to  dependence  and  send  the  "laugh  of  glee"  to  the 
palace;  and  well  may  the  cunning  la,ugh  to  see  the  folly  of  their 
victims.  Every  thinking  man  with  unprejudiced  mind,  who  will 
take  the  pains  to  think,  knows  that  with  our  newer  country,  with 
out  better  soil,  richer  mines,  grander  forests,  more  abundant, 
more  accessible  and  cheaper  raw  material  of  every  kind;  with 
the  greater  activity,  industry  and  intelligence  of  our  working 
people;  with  better  wages,  better  methods,  and  a  more  fertile 
genius;  that  with  unrestricted  commerce,  America  could  beat  the 
world  in  any  market  or  in  any  country.  The  boastful  American 
who  would  shrink  from  such  honorable  rivalry  with  so  great  an 
advantage,  merits  the  contempt  of  his  countrymen  and  should 
hide  his  head  in  shame. 

But  monopoly  has  furnished  the  public  opinion,  and  such 
sentiments  are  unpopular.  Oh,  but  I  love  men!  Men  who  dare 
have  opinions  and  dare  express  them,  though  the  heavens  frown. 
If  a  man  knowing  he  is  right,  sees  the  world  turn  its  back,  he 
mid  say  to  the  world,  go  to! 
'God  give  us  men!  a  time  like  this  demands 

Strong  minds,  great  hearts,  true  faith  and  ready  hands; 

Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  does  not  kill, 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy, 

Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will, 

Men  who  have  honor,  men  who  will  not  lie, 

Men  who  can  stand  before  a  demagogue 

And  damn  his  treacherous  flatteries  without  winking, 

Tall  men,  sun-crowned,  who  live  above  the  fog, 

In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking; 

For,  while  the  rabble,  with  their  thumb-worn  creeds, 

Their  large  professions  and  their  little  deeds, 

Mingle  in  selfish  strife,  lo!   freedom  weeps, 

Wrong  rules  the  land  and  waiting  justice  sleeps." 


—126— 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

LABOR  AND   ITS   MASTER. 

HE  most  casual  observer  must  confess  that  American 
society  is  rapidly  differentiating  a  ruling  and  a 
ruled  class.  Speaking  of  the  "ruling  class,"  I  do  not 
mean  the  office-holding  class,  for  usually  the  latter 
are  but  putty  in  the  hands  of  stronger  and  much  more 
sagacious  men,  who  are  willing  that  vanity  should 
reap  the  applause,  if  they  can  gather  the  substantial 
benefits  of  power.  Few  real  kings  ever  sat  upon  a 
throne.  The  man  with  the  crown,  and  scepter  and 
long  robes  of  childish  beauty,  is  usually  but  a  puppet 
in  the  hands  of  some  strong,  frowning  despot  behind 
the  scenes,  who  with  small  grimaces  hauls  his  master's  chest- 
nuts from  the  fire  of  hate  a,nd  contention.  But  the  "governed" 
class  in  America  can  vote  and  as  "all  powers  are  derived  from 
the  consent  of  the  governed,"  this  has  caused  a  world  of  worry 
and  annoyance  to  the  governing  class.  To  procure  that  "con- 
sent" to  measures  which  oppressed  the  consenting  party,  required 
a  vast  deal  of  cunning,  so  much  so  that  in  the  evolution  of  thought 
the  statesman  has  retired  and  the  politician  plays  his  fantastic 
tricks  in  the  mask  of  the  builders  of  the  empire.  Labor,  being 
decorated  with  this  badge  of  liberty — a,  vote — has  exercised  the 
prerogative  of  a  freeman,  in  choosing  the  custodians  of  its  earn- 
ings. 

The  laboring  class  is  always  a  very  numerous  class  in  an 
enlightened  state,  usually  a,  very  busy  class,  and  a  very  honest 
class.  Honesty  is  easily  deceived  by  pretended  friends,  and  as 
the  policy  of  the  nation  must  be  moulded  by  popular  consent, 
every  measure  must  bear  the  device,  "for  the  public  good." 
Every  despot  who  ever  sat  upon  a  throne;  every  butcher  who 
ever  led  his  duped  mob  to  slaughter,  and  every  barbarous 


—127— 

who  ever  bled  the  back  of  his  crouching  slave,  ruled  for  the 
good  of  the  subject.  So  every  scheme  that  has  bribed  the  law, 
and  every  law  that  has  clutched  a  penny  from  the  hard  hand  of 
toil  a,nd  placed  it  in  the  fat  purse  of  opulence,  by  soft,  seductive 
falsehood  and  "tender  regards"  for  public  good,  has  bought  the 
sanction  of  the  victim.  Because  labor  held  a  ballot,  cunning  has 
always  entertained  a  deep  solicitude  for  its  interest.  Money  was 
contracted  tha,t  business  might  find  a  firm  basis,  so  that  "when 
a  poor  laboring  man  lays  down  his  tools  for  the  evening,  he 
knows  what  he  has  earned" — and  he  does.  The  great  railroad 
enterprises  that  now  own  land  enough  to  give  homes  to  thirty 
million  people  were  conceived  by  the  advancement  of  industrial 
interest.  To  busy  our  laborers  and  give  homes  to  our  homeless. 
And  tariff,  the  most  seductive  fraud  that  ever  sceptered  the  hand 
of  idleness,  was  fed  into  giant  proportions  as  the  especial  cham- 
pion of  the  laboring  man. 

For  a,  quarter  of  a  century  an  average  of  forty  millions  of 
people  have  been  outrageously  taxed  "for  the  benefit  of  the  labor- 
ing man,"  and  what  are  the  substantial  fruits  of  this  reign,  his- 
toric for  its  stirring  events?  There  are  more  princely  employers 
and  more  suffering  employes  than  ever  known  in  the  history  of 
the  country;  more  millionaires  and  more  paupers;  more  rascals 
in  robes  and  more  honest  men  in  rags;  more  opulence  and  more 
squalor.  How  strange!  The  poor  are  the  laborers  for  whom 
these  laws  were  passed;  for  whose  benefit  the  people  have  been 
taxed  near  a  billion  dollars  a  year.  How  strange!  The  rich  are 
the  ones  who  paid  untold  thousands  to  procure  the  passage  of 
laws  for  the  benefit  of  labor — in  fact,  which  was  to  compel  these 
"philanthropic"  (?)  gentlemen  to  pay  employes  better  wages. 
How  can  this  be?  La,bor  produces  all.  If  labor  has  not  been' 
profitable,  from  whence  came  the  great  accumulations  that  give 
us  the  proud  title — the  richest  nation  on  earth — and  how  came 
the  idlers,  millionaires?  If  labor  has  been  profitable,  why  sits 
hunger  a,nd  want  at  the  door  of  patient  industry?  Let  us  think. 
To  procure  the  passage  of  these  laws  that  were  to  tax  the  whole 
people  that  labor  might  be  steadily  and  profitably  employed,  the 
philanthropist  wept,  politician  howled,  and  the  congressman  pock- 
eted his  fee  and  cast  his  vote;  but  wha,t  are  the  practical  results? 
Carroll  D.  Wright  confesses  that  there  are  one  million  laborers 


—128— 

at  least,  idle.  If  idle,  they  are  in  want.  If  idle  and  in  want,  those 
employed  are  necessarily — from  the  force  of  competition — work- 
ing at  very  low  wages.  Our  country  is  yet  new,  our  va,st  re- 
sources not  one-tenth  explored;  yet  a  million  men,  who  should 
be  earning  a  million  dollars  per  day,  by  transmitting  raw  material 
into  the  needs  of  humanity,  are  in  idleness,  in  want,  and  consum- 
ing daily  from  the  stored  wealth  of  other  times.  This  is  a  waste 
of  three  hundred  million  dollars  per  year.  This  idleness  of  one 
million  men,  throwing  one  million  of  families,  or  five  million  of 
people,  upon  the  reserve  fund  for  subsistence,  is  enough  to  cre- 
ate the  most  dangerous  business  prostration  if  not  dangerous 
discontent.  To  support  the  five  million  people  who  are  in  want, 
because  of  this  enforced  idleness  of  a  million  laborers,  is  a  hravy 
tax  on  the  seventeen  million  wealth  producers,  who  are  greatly 
crippled  by  this  cause  from  purchasing,  and  that  in  its  turn  em- 
barasses  all  trades  and  all  industries. 

Commissioner  Wright  says  also,  that  labor  in  this  country 
has  the  help  of  machinery,  to  the  ajnount  of  "twenty-one  million 
man-power,"  yet  with  this  great  triumph  of  genius,  and  the  most 
fabulous  and  accessible  raw  material  on  earth,  labor  groans  and 
dies  of  want;  a,nd  while  it  "organizes"  and  resolves  and  com- 
plains and  strikes,  and  unnerves  the  weak  with  its  mutterings, 
it  holds  in  its  pallid  ha.nd  a  ballot  which  it  dares  not  cast  for 
its  own  deliverance. 

Capital,  hearing  rumors  of  discontent,  steps  out  on  its  gothic 
veranda,  in  front  of  its  marble  palace  and  commiserates  labor  on 
its  misfortune,  and  exculpates  all  but  the  fates  for  the  sad  con- 
dition. Though  the  people  have  paid  capital  over  a  billion  dol- 
lars to  keep  labor  employed,  capital  says  to  the  idle,  starving 
multitudes:  "There  is  an  over-production,  and  business  is  dull. 
There  is  no  market  for  goods,  and  your  labor,  like  other  mer- 
chantable commodities,  being  regulated  by  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand,  ha£  no  market,  and  as  we  are  a  civilized  people,  we 
should  keep  quiet  and  starve  like  Christians."  What  infamy! 
"Over-production,"  and  millions  in  want!  No  demand  for  goods, 
and  millions  desiring  to  buy,  offering  in  exchange  that  which 
has  produced  all  wealth.  Labor  produced  ajl  this  fabulous  wealth 
of  the  nation;  cunning  appropriated  it,  and  the  power  of  its 
possession  has  grasped  the  entire  stock  of  raw  material,  the  whole 


—129— 

earth,  the  mines,  minerals,  forests,  and  soil,  a,nd  the  machinery, 
the  fruits  of  genius,  and  now,  having  little  use  for  the  "lower 
millions,"  with  supreme  impudence  tells  them  that  there  is  noth- 
ing for  them  to  do;  no  demand  for  their  commodity,  and  that 
labor,  being  "regulated  by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand,"  they 
cannot  justly  find  fault.  Wha,t  infamy;  and  yet  these  starving, 
idle  men  have  loyally  voted  for  this  policy,  until  made  so  depend- 
ent that  they  must  vote  for  its  perpetuation.  What  infamy,  for 
cunning  to  monopolize  the  earth,  shut  the  doors  of  the  world, 
lock  the  treasure-house  of  nature  from  which  all  must  live, 
against  the  honest  millions,  and  while  la,bor  sees  the  vast  vacant 
tracts  of  fertile  soil  on  which  a  foot  never  trod;  the  most  fab- 
ulous mines  and  all  the  boundless  stores  of  material  wasting  for 
use,  it  must  retire  and  die  patiently  and  content,  because  a  few 
own  the  world,  a,nd  therefore  there  is  no  "demand  for  labor." 
Monopoly  makes  merchandise  of  men,  slaves  of  women,  beggars 
of  children  and  outcasts  of  all,  and  then  holds  itself  in  power  by 
bribery  or  fraud  practiced  on  a  class  who  are  helpless.  These 
polite  capitalists  are  so  schooled  in  dexterous  "cussedness"  that 
they  spurn  truth  as  unworthy  the  attention  of  Christian  gentle- 
men and  their  nonchalance  in  the  feat  of  appropriating  would 
shame  a  Captain  Kidd  or  a,  western  land  agent.  Cunning  tells 
labor  that  capital  is  its  best  and  only  friend,  and  were  it  not 
for  capital  labor  would  starve.  True,  capital  is  labor's  best 
friend,  for  it  is  the  child  of  labor,  but  there  is  a  vast  difference 
in  capital  and  the  average  capitalist.  Cajpital  is  the  fruit  of 
labor,  while  the  modern  "capitalist"  is  the  soft-hancied  gentle- 
man who  appropriates  the  profits  of  labor,  by  a  system  of  cla,ss 
laws  which  practically  licenses  larceny.  These  rulers  say  that 
all  wages  come  from  capital.  It  is  untrue.  All  capita.1  has  come 
from  wages,  as  the  surplus  of  earnings  over  consumption.  There 
was  no  capital  until  sagacious  labor  earned  a  dollar  more  than 
it  consumed,  and  there  were  no  capitalists,  of  the  modern  type, 
until  idleness  gathered  these  surplus  dollars  and  marshalled  them 
into  Active  force.  Wages  do  not  come  from  capital,  but  from 
the  product  being  created  by  the  joint  enterprise  of  labor  and 
capital;  the  laborer  receiving,  usually  in  advance  of  marketing 
the  product,  such  a  share  as  is  mutually  agreed  upon.  If  wages 
came  only  from  capital,  there  could  be  no  capital,  as  there  was 


—130— 

no  such  thing  until  the  work  of  earning  began.  This  false  no- 
tion arid  false  teaching  has  so  mystified  labor  that  it  has  sub- 
mitted to  an  unequal  distribution  of  earnings,  and  thus  many 
of  the  present  difficulties.  If  capital  has  been  generous  with 
labor,  and  wages  ha,ve  come  down  from  capital,  how  has  the  one 
grown  so  enormously  great,  and  the  other  so  wretchedly  poor? 
Writers  with  a  high  regard  for  reputation,  claim  to  have  ex- 
humed from  the  cumbrous  reports  the  fact  that  of  the  eight  bill- 
ion dollars'  worth  of  property  in  1850,  five  billions  belonged  to 
the  producers  and  three  billions  to  capitalists,  those  who  produced 
it  owning  five-eighths  of  their  earnings.  Of  the  sixteen  billions 
in  1860,  the  producers  owned  seven  billions,  and  the  capitalists 
nine  billions.  Then,  the  producers  owned  but  seven-sixteenths, 
or  less  than  half.  Of  the  thirty  billions  in  1870,  the  producers 
owned  but  eleven  billions  and  the  capitalists  nineteen  billions; 
the  producers,  at  this  date,  owning  but  a  fraction  over  one-third 
of  their  earnings.  Since  that  time  the  profits  of  toil  haVe  been 
moving  still  more  rapidly  into  the  coffers  of  the  millionaire. 

When  labor  was  strong,  it  was  hoodwinked  into  a  political 
partnership  with  monopoly,  because  told  that  the  whole  people 
should  be  taxed  for  its  benefit;  but  now  when  it  sees  the  spoils 
which  it  hoped  to  win  appropriated  by  the  idle,  it  finds  itself 
helpless,  and  under  the  strong  influence  of  political  bosses,  who 
endeavor  to  control  its  vote  by  bribery  and  intimidation,  while 
mocking  its  wants. 

But  20%  of  the  cost  in  the  average  American  manufacture 
is  labor,  yet  in  the  name  of  the  laboring  man,  a  tax  of  42%  was 
levied  on  all  who  dared  come  to  sell  us  the  products  which  we 
needed,  on  the  assumption  that  it  would  rob  labor  of  its  employ- 
ment. La,bor  gets  20%.  Who  gets  the  other  22%?  Look  along 
the  line  and  you  will  see  who  has  it,  and  you  will  also  see  that 
these  great  centers  of  "protection"  are  the  centers  of  great  wealth 
among  the  idlers  and  great  poverty  and  destitution  among  the 
toilers,  and  the  seats  of  a,  dangerous  discontent  which  threatens 
the  safety  of  the  republic. 

A  Pennsylvania  paper  issued  October,  1886,  during  the  heat 
of  a  political  campaign,  said: 

"There  were  six  hundred  and  forty  Bulgarians  just  from  Eu- 
rope, by  the  way  of  Ca,stle  Garden,  marched  to  the  mouth  of  a 


£l 

: 


—131— 

coal  shaft  at  Johnstown  yesterday  and  halted  at  the  entrance 
like  soldiers.  On  the  opposite  side  of  a  close  board  fence  six  hun- 
dred and  forty  of  the  old  miners  marched  out  and  were  discharged. 
The  new  men,  great  burly,  blajik-faced  fellows,  then  marched 
into  the  dark  hole  and  took  up  the  task  laid  down  by  the  malcon- 
tents. We  doubt  if  one  of  the  'new  arrivals'  knew  a  word  of 
English  or  how  much  they  were  to  receive  for  their  labor.  What 
grand  opportunities  these  animals  will  have  to  study  the  beauties 
f  our  institutions." 

Another  journal,  in  speajking  of  a  political  meeting,  held  the 
me  date  a  few  miles  from  Johnstown,  said: 

"Hon.  James  G.  Elaine  met  with  a  grand  ovation  yesterday. 
His  speech  was  chiefly  in  support  of  the  policy  of  protection  to 
American  labor."  * 

And  a  Philadelphia  paper  about  the  same  date,  said: 

"Hon.  Samuel  J.  Randall  expounded  the  true  doctrine  of  pro- 
tection to  American  labor  to  a  good  audience  last  evening." 

What  a  mockery  of  the  toiler's  wrongs!  What  an  insult  to 
American  intelligence!  Starve,  oppress  and  drive  honest  men 
from  their  employment,  and  then  add  insult  to  injury  by  elo- 
quently calling  them  to  vote  to  perpetuate  this  system  of  tyranny. 
When  the  gentlemen  who  had  procured  the  passage  of  a  pro- 
tective law  that  enabled  them  to  pool  and  raise  the  price  of  coal 
fifty  cents  per  ton,  met  to  consider  the  propriety  of  bringing 
these  six  hundred  and  forty  Bulgarians  to  displace  the  six  hun- 
dred and  forty  Americans,  the  meeting  was  called  "business," 
but  when  the  six  hundred  and  forty  men  displaced,  just  at  the 
beginning  of  a  long  winter,  with  no  means  for  the  support  of 
families,  met  in  a  cold  room  to  devise  means  by  which  to  live,  and 
ask  an  investigation  as  to  cause  of  discharge,  the  meeting  was 
called  "conspiracy,"  and  if  there  had  been  as  much  noise  and 
glee  as  at  the  other  meeting,  the  militia  would  have  been  sum- 
moned. Go  to  the  great  red-mouthed  furnaces  and  see  the  "dig- 
nified" laborers  work.  Go  to  the  slums  and  tenement  houses,  in 
the  "smoky  hollow"  and  steep  mountain  sides  and  see  the  future 
of  America,  as  the  fruits  of  the  system;  then  go  back  of  the  city, 
on  the  sunny  hill,  and  explore  the  princely  palace  of  the  million- 
aire, the  manager,  the  political  and  business  boss.  Here  live  the 
same  gentlemen  who  lobbied  in  Washington  and  applauded  the 


same  gen 


—132— 

gracious  tears  shed  by  Mr.  Randall  over  the  sorrows  of  those 
who  work  in  the  mines,  and  the  blazing  furnaces,  and  who  live 
in  the  huts  at  the  base  of  the  hill,  or  pack  their  families,  like 
pickled  salmon,  in  the  tenement  houses.  They  are  the  same  gen- 
tlemen who  bribe  the  law,  own  courts,  subsidize  the  press,  cor- 
ner iron,  coal  and  all  goods  used  by  the  people;  that  raise  or 
lower  freights,  and  loan  their  surplus  cash  on  the  western  farm, 
that  the  mortgagees  may  draw  the  land  into  one  central  chan- 
nel. They  own  the  politicians,  pay  for  the  "supplements,"  and 
protection  literature,  and  fill  the  land  with  small-bored  ward 
workers,  who  laud  the  party  virtue  on  election  dav.  These  are 
the  men  who  lay  the  dark  schemes,  organize  the  "workers,"  and 
hire  the  deluded  fools  to  paint  their  own  badges  of  party  fealty, 
and  they  are  the  same  patriotic  parties,  who,  after  procuring  an 
increase  of  the  tariff  on  iron — by  a  vote  of  the  member  elected 
by  their  oppressed  employes — cut  down  wages  upon  their  return 
from  the  capitol,  and  on  the  first  murmur  of  discontent  from  the 
laborers,  hurry  an  agent  to  interior  Europe,  to  hire  under  con- 
tract a  few  thousand  paupers  and  bring  them — tariff  free — to 
take  the  place  of  those  "insolent  laboring  men"  who  were  foolish 
enough  to  quarrel  with  their  dinners. 

While  the  monopolists  are  saved  from  a  competition  with  the 
traders  of  other  countries,  in  the  sale  of  their  commodities,  the 
laboring  man  must  sell  his  commodity — labor — in  competition 
with  the  cheapest  labor  from  Europe,  imported — tariff  free — for 
the  very  purpose  of  degrading  the  wages  of  those  for  whom  the 
protective  laws  were  ostensibly  passed.  The  products  of  cheap 
labor  must  not  come  to  bless  our  people  with  cheap  goods,  as  it 
would  lessen  the  tribute  money  of  the  rich;  but  the  cheap  laborer 
himself,  is  induced  by  the  most  flattering  promises  to  come  to 
our  country,  and  bid  for  the  tasks  being  performed  by  the  "pro- 
tected" American  laboring  man. 

As  before  remarked,  the  labor  cost  of  pig  iron  is  sixty  cents 
per  ton  more  in  America  than  in  England,  and  the  protective 
tariff  six  dollars  per  ton.  While,  though  the  people  paid  from 
60%  to  100%  more  for  all  the  iron  used,  and  the  manufacturer 
got  five  dollars  and  forty  cents,  yet  the  iron  workers  in  the 
United  States  received  no  more  wages  in  proportion  to  the  pro- 
ductive capacity  of  their  labor  than  the  same  class  in  England. 


: 


—133- 

The  very  low  wages  received  by  the  American  iron  workers, 
proves  the  falsehood  of  all  such  promises  for  their  betterment. 

The  Philadelphia  Record,  of  a  recent  date,  says: 

"Iron  ore  is  protected  by  a  tariff,  and  yet  the  iron  ore  work- 
ers of  Pennsylvania  earned  an  average  of  four  dollars  a  week 
during  the  year  1885,  as  shown  by  the  returns  of  their  employers 
the  state  bureau  of  industrial  statistics. 

"Soft  coal  is  protected  by  a  tariff  of  seventy-five  cents  per 
n,  yet  the  bituminous  coal  workers  of  Pennsylvania  only  earned 
an  average  of  six  dollars  and  twenty  cents  a  week  during  the 
year  1885,  as  shown  by  the  result  of  their  employers." 

What  magnificent  salaries!  Now,  who  gets  the  benefit  of 
these  statesmenlike  laws?  Can  it  be  the  laboring  man?  If  so, 
how  pitiable  his  condition,  without  the  generous  interference 
of  congress.  Yet,  we  have  the  word  of  very  respectable  authori- 
ties that  it  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  "laboring  man."  Oh,  yes,  1 
see!  It  is  for  the  gentlemen  who  "labor"  with  congress,  with 
courts,  and  with  legislatures.  We  have  no  statistics  as  to  their 
"wages."  Yet,  compare  their  raiment,  their  apartments,  and 
their  style  of  living  with  the  condition  of  the  great 
muscular  fellows,  with  calloused  hands  and  smutty  noses,  and 
you  can  see  who  gets  the  sixty  cents  and  who  the  five  dollars 
and  forty  cents.  Yes,  it  is  for  the  "laboring  man,"  but  the  man 
who  labors  with  his  mouth  and  with  his  purse,  and  whose  cal- 
louses are  on  his  cheek  and  on  his  heart.  Think  of  a  "protected" 
iron  worker  supporting  a  family  of  five  on  four  dollars  a  week, 
or  fifty-nine  cents  a  day,  or  eleven  cents  per  day  per  capita.  What 
opulent  palaces!  What  luxuriant  tables  and  what  raiment!  Oh, 
Mother  Eve,  bring  back  your  fig  leaves. 

The  apologist  attributes  the  destitute  condition  of  these  la- 
boring men  to  their  improvidence  and  shiftlessness.  Give  a  proud, 
intelligent  working  man  four  dollars  per  week  for  hard,  phys- 
ical toil,  and  refine  his  sorrows  with  the  care  of  a  family  and 
about  how  big  would  a  five  dollar  gold  piece  look  on  the  morning 
of  election  day.  But  men  are  beginning  to  open  their  eyes,  and 
the  oracles  become  mute,  and  miracles  cease  with  the  banish- 
ment of  ignorance  and  superstition,  and  the  veil  it  rent,  wh^n 
the  priests  are  caught  wearing  the  robes  which  their  dupes  ga,ve 
or  the  deities. 


for  tin 


—134— 

I  grant  that  protection  does  affect,  and  in  a  marked  degree, 
the  wages  of  a  people,  but  inversely  from  the  popular  teachings. 
Other  conditions,  system  of  government,  soil,  climate,  population, 
age  a,nd  degree  of  civilization  being  equal,  the  rate  of  wages  may 
be  known  by  the  tariff  on  imports,  as  wages  sink  with  the  de- 
gree of  a  nation's  exclusiveness,  and  rise  just  in  proportion  as 
she  approaches  commercial  freedom. 

The  following  table  based  upon  consular  reports,  shows  the 
wages  of  the  three  leading  nations  of  Europe:  England,  Ger- 
many and  Austria,.  England  has  the  disadvantage  of  a  more 
dense  population;  having  four  hundred  and  forty-six  to  the 
square  mile,  against  two  hundred  and  one  for  Germany,  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty-six  for  Austria.  England  is  practically  free 
trade,  while  Germany  is  "blessed"  or  cursed  with  a  protective 
law,  little  better  than  ours,  while  Austria  has  one  even  more 
barbarous.  Here  it  is,  giving  the  weekly  wa,ges  paid  in  the* 
countries  under  consideration: 

England 
and 
Wales.   Germany.   Austria. 

Bricklayers    $7.56        $4.21        $3.55 

Hodcarriers 4.94          2.29          2.08 

Masons    7.68          4.07          3.73 

Carpenters    7.66          4.11          5.10 

Brickmakers   7.00          7.00          6.20 

Butchers 5.50          3.32          3.50 

Coopers   7.50          3.97          3.64 

Street  railways   6.00          3.44          3.68 

Printers    7.17          5.10          4.85 

Laborers    4.70          3.11          3.00 

It  will  -be  seen  that  the  lowest  average  wages  are  in  the 
country  having  the  highest  tariff,  and  the  highest  wages  in  the 
free  trade  country. 

This  is  just  as  any  thinker  would  expect  to  find  it,  and  for 
reasons  that  are  very  obvious.  Where  na.tions  say  we  will  not 
buy,  the  arbitrary  law  of  trade  says,  ''you  cannot  sell."  Then 
to  the  exact  extent  of  the  exclusiveness  of  a  people,  who,  be- 
ing reared  under  like  conditions  of  government,  climate,  re- 


—135— 

ligion,  tastes,  etc.,  and  being  of  a  uniform  type,  they  have  small 
wants  except  in  variety.  In  an  industrial  field  so  narrow  that 
a  comparatively  small  number  of  workers  will  supply  the  lim- 
ited home  demand,  there  arises  a  sharp  competition  among 
laboring  men  which  greatly  reduces  the  wages.  The  workers 
of  a  protective  country  run  the  shops  and  mills  of  a  community 
only,  which  busies  but  a  portion  of  the  laborers,  and  when  such 
community  is  supplied,  there  comes  a  "shut-down"  and  a  rest. 
Tariff  and  wages  are  but  links  in  the  iron  chain  of  industrial 
progress.  Free  trade  is  the  magician's  wand,  that  whitens  the 
seas  with  commerce  and  binds  the  world  in  a  common  brother- 
hood. It  calls  for  "more  goods"  and  more  people  to  make  them, 
then  for  more  to  feed  the  workers,  and  this  raises  wages.  These 
higher  wages  awaken  genius,  that  toil  may  find  rest.  It  startles 
ambition  by  its  dazzling  promise;  warms  the  heart  with  love; 
lightens  the  home  of  industry  with  a  smile  of  joy;  transmutes 
the  cold  hovel  into  a  painted  cottage  where  the  intelligent  worker 
repairs  at  evening,  to  pluck  a  rose  from  his  own  garden;  to 
dandle  a  dimpled  babe  upon  his  knee,  and  talk  affairs  of  state 
to  the  happy  matron  as  she  prepares  a  meal  an  ancient  king 
might  covet.  And  upon  this  domestic  happiness  rests  the  per- 
petuity and  safety  of  the  republic. 

Can  any  sensible  man  believe  that  these  laws  were  passed 
for  any  purpose  but  to  enrich  the  few,  by  a  tax  on  the  many? 
to  reduce  labor  to  dependence,  that  all  the  profits  of  toil  could 
be  controlled  by  the  sharp  competition  for  bread;  and  that  the 
laboring  man  might  be  used  as  a  political  force  to  perpetuate 
this  policy,  until  the  times  were  ripe  for  another  change? 

Have  labor  societies  purchased  politicians,  bribed  legisla- 
tures, bought  votes  at  the  ward  caucuses,  or  wined  the  marketa- 
ble members  in  the  senate  restaurants?  If  the  benefits  of  these 
especial  measures  accrued  to  the  laboring  man,  would  the  aris- 
tocrat spend  millions  to  secure  their  passage?  If  protective  laws 
gave  labor  more  wages,  or  more  independence,  would  the  em- 
ployers wrestle  with  congress  to  procure  the  passage  of  meas- 
ures that  would  compel  them  to  raise  the  cost  of  their  products 
and  make  them  more  dependent  upon  their  employes?  With 
the  increasing  population,  the  gradual  sinking  of  the  middle  class, 
id  the  rapidly  increasing  power  of  monopoly,  labor  in  America  is 


—136— 

in  a  sad  and  almost  hopeless  condition,  unless  the  whole  indus- 
trial policy  is  changed.  Labor  is  capital,  and  with  our  improved 
methods,  the  benefit  of  our  experience  and  the  unknown  powers 
of  genius  to  push  us  forward,  and,  with  our  matchless  resources, 
if  labor  were  given  unchained  opportunities,  the  present  wealth 
of  the  nation  would  double  in  ten  years.  It  is  not  capital,  but 
avarice  and  greed,  the  desire  of  "capitalists"  to  rule,  that  is  la- 
bor's enemy,  and  that  enemy  must  down  or  the  masses  of 
America  will  sink  to  the  level  of  the  "common  herds"  of  th^ 
Old  World. 

While  labor  has  become  restive  and  uneasy,  with  a  multitude 
of  councils,  laboring  men  are  at  a  loss  for  a  remedy  and  a,  rea- 
son which  will  account  for  its  conditions.  Many  "leading  jour- 
nals," under  pay  of  monopoly,  pity,  flatter  and  scold  labor  for 
its  impatience.  It  is  told  it  must  "economize"  more,  and  tha,t 
it  is  very  naughty  to  strike  or  complain,  as  capital  is  its  "best 
friend"  and  does  the  best  it  can  to  "take  care  of  it,"  but  the 
"law  of  supply  and  demand"  is  so  inexorable,  tha,t  it  asserts  its 
power  over  all  alike. 

A  hundred  thousand  politicians,  also  paid  by  monopoly,  are 
tickling  the  long  ears  of  labor  by  demanding  in  its  behalf  a, 
right  to  organize,  to  "resolve,"  and  demand  shorter  hours  of  the 
law-makers;  and  fifty  thousand  ministers,  with  nasal  melody, 
are  promising  these  despairing  millions  an  "extra  ration"  of 
"milk  and  honey"  in  the  "land  of  the  hereafter,"  if  they  will  be 
good  and  patient,  submit  to  "those  who  rule  over  them,"  be 
"content,"  in  the  sphere  in  which  it  "pleased  God"  to  place  them, 
and  pay  their  pew  rent  or  go  to  the  mission  church,  instead  of 
spending  their  evenings  in  the  seditious  "assembly."  Who  writes 
or  speaks  for  cash  or  fajne,  must  join  this  throng  and  lick  the 
hand  that  strikes  down  human  brotherhood;  who  writes  or 
speaks  for  the  people,  is  ridiculed  or  hissed  as  a  crank  or  dis- 
turber, by  the  "shoddy  genteel,"  while  the  stall-fed  minions  of 
monopoly,  brand  him  as  a  "demagogue"  or  Socialist;  and  too 
often  the  degraded  and  oppressed,  deceived  by  the  gloved  hand 
that  caressed  for  a  vote,  join  in  the  chorus,  and  point  a  finger"  at 
their  champions,  shouting,  "demagogue."  It  has  always  been  so. 
The  man  who  braved  the  frowns  of  Christian  Europe  and  de- 
manded "liberty  of  thought,"  wa,s  denounced  as  a  "demagogue" 


—137— 

id  called  dangerous.  The  man  who,  in  the  darkest  days  of 
English  history  would  curtail  the  kingly  prerogative,  was  de- 
nounced as  a  "demagogue"  and  called  dangerous.  Until  our  own 
generation,  the  man  who  protested  against  the  right  of  one  man 
to  put  his  brother  man  upon  the  auction  block  and  sell  him  from 
parents,  wife  or  babes,  wa,s  mobbed,  and  pronounced  a  "dema- 
gogue," and  dangerous;  and  now,  the  man  who  dares  defy  the 
tyranny  of  greed  and  demands  justice  for  all,  is  denounced  as  a 
"demagogue,"  and  dangerous.  But  the  rulers  are  shrewd  and 
wise  in  their  denunciations,  for  all  these  champions  of  human 
rights  have  been  "dangerous"  to  the  oppressors. 

The  scheme  to  reduce  labor  to  dependence  has  succeeded  ad- 
mirably; and  as  long  as  laboring  men  a,re  so  obliging  as  to  con- 
fine their  energies  to  discontent,  and  to  "organizing,"  "resolv- 
ing," "demanding  shorter  hours"  and  "finer  screens,"  monopoly 
will  be  happy;  but  if  labor  and  agriculture  should  demand  a  re- 
versal of  the  whole  industrial  system,  the  "moneyed  circles" 
would  be  greatly  outraged;  but  legitimate  capital  would  light 
every  home  with  joy,  and  the  thinking  mass  would  accept  the 
situation  and  gradually  fall  into  the  ranks  and  ma,rch  with  the 
great  army  of  progress. 


—138— 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

LABOR— CONTINUED— NECESSITY   OP   HIGH   WAGES. 

JEW  realize  the  great  importance  of  well-paid  labor, 
or  high  wages,  to  the  development  of  a  people,  a,nd 
for  the  establishing  of  a  high  civilization.  England, 
by  reason  of  the  power  given  her  by  her  well-paid 
and  efficient  labor,  has  become  mistress  of  the  seas, 
and  holds  the  commercial  supremacy  of  the  world. 
Given  a  country  with  wise  la,ws,  a  fair  soil,  a 
summer  sufficiently  long  to  permit  the  raising  of 
heavy  cereals,  and  a  winter  sufficiently  severe  to 
necessitate  a  close  fireside,  and  the  progress  of  such 
nation  exactly  corresponds  with  the  rate  of  wages 
of  the  workingmen,  or  the  purchasing  power  of  labor.  No  low 
wage  people  ever  developed  a,  grand  civilization.  No  cheap  labor- 
ing nation  ever  elevated  the  masses.  Where  physical  effort  is 
degraded,  genius  sleeps.  China  has  not  advanced  an  inch  for 
three  thousand  years.  Her  people  have  patterned  after  the  dead 
ages  and  become  a  race  of  imitators.  In  Europe,  all  the  modern 
Christian  nations  have  advanced  in  the  ulita,rian  pursuits,  lit- 
erature and  commerce,  just  in  proportion  to  the  wages  paid  their 
toilers.  England  leads  the  world  in  wages,  as  well  as  in  the 
arts  of  peace  ajad  war.  Those  following  her  most  closely  are 
those  paying  most  closely  her  rate  of  wages,  other  things  being 
equal.  Neco  needed  no  steam  shovel,  as  long  as  a  handful  of 
dates  and  a  lash  drove  twenty  thousand  people  into  his  grea,t 
canal.  Egypt  needs  no  steam  plow  as  long  as  a  drove  of  pigs 
tramp  in  the  crop  of  wheat  in  the  soft  mud  of  the  receding  Nile. 
India  needs  no  "self-binders"  in  her  fields  as  long  as  the  patient 
riot  will  toil  in  the  harvest  a  long  day  for  seven  pence.  The 
South  made  no  advance  under  her  cheap,  or  slave  labor  sys- 
tem. The  people  were  called  idle,  vicious  and  barbarous.  The 


—139— 

fa.ult  was  that  men  were  cheap;  their  efforts  not  valued.  What 
brain  would  wrestle  with  the  dark,  hidden  forces  of  nature,  to 
bring  to  light  the  powers  that  have  slept  through  all  the  world's 
progressive  changes,  to  save  the  sweat  of  a  slave?  Where  toil 
is  valuable,  'tis  well  paid  and  honorable.  Then,  'tis  praiseworthy 
to  save  its  cares,  to  protect  its  health  and  prevent  its  too  rapid 
waste.  Whitney,  who  invented  the  cotton  gin,  and  crowned  cot- 
ton king,  belonged  to  a  colder,  higher  wage  country.  Hargreaves, 
who  invented  the  spinning-jenny,  put  the  scepter  in  King  Cot- 
ton's ha,nd  and  uniformed  the  world  in  new  attire,  inhabited  a 
colder,  higher  wage  country. 

When  the  fetters  were  snatched  from  the  galled  limbs  of 
southern  toil,  when  cash  was  substituted  for  the  lash,  and  the 
dark  sons  of  many  sorrows  walked  forth  to  compete  in  the  world's 
battle  for  place  and  honor,  the  South  leaped  forward  a,  hundred 
years  at  a  single  bound.  These  are  things  worth  thinking  about. 
Because  our  country  was  entirely  new;  because  there  was  a  whole 
continent  of  raw  material;  because  there  was  more  fertile  soil, 
richer  mines,  greater  forests  and  greater  natural  resources  than 
in  any  country  on  earth;  because  the  population  was  sparse  and 
workers  needed  to  convert  the  raw  material  that  God  had  given 
us  so  abundantly,  into  the  necessaries  for  our  civilization,  wages 
were  high;  and  because  wages  were  high,  and  men  valuable, 
brain  ca,me  to  the  rescue  of  over-worked  muscle.  Then  came  the 
steamboat,  the  railroad,  the  great  looms  and  iron  machines,  that, 
with  their  tireless  sinews  and  great  beating  hearts,  proclaimed 
tha,t  the  grandest  mission  of  human  genius  was  to  lighten  the 
burdens  of  God's  toiling  children. 

When  the  farm  was  made  on  the  broad  prairie,  with  no' 
stumps  or  stones  to  hinder,  the  physical  man  grew  weary,  as 
he  trudged  over  the  broad  fields,  and  as  his  labor  was  valuable — 
high — bra,in  came  to  his  rescue,  and  the  modern  plows,  ditchers, 
mowers,  reapers,  and  the  thousand  other  machines,  came  in 
obedience  to  the  call  of  necessity  and  gave  him  time  for  thought. 
These  are  things  worth  thinking  about,  and  I  protest  against  any 
and  every  measure,  policy  or  influence,  tha,t  will  lower  the  wages 
of  the  laboring  people,  for  just  to  the  extent  of  such  influence, 
rill  progress  be  checked,  society  degraded,  and  pride,  iove,  mor- 


will  progres 


—140— 

ality  and  conscious  worth  rot  out,  and  even  liberty  itself  will 
die. 

The  true  grandeur  of  a  nation  consists,  not  in  gilded  palaces, 
gorgeous  capitols,  great  cathedrals,  and  banks  where  moneyed 
princes  traffic  in  the  gold  filched  from  the  brown  hand  of  toil; 
not  in  the  lordly  mansion,  the  golden  chariot,  the  uniformed  at- 
tendant, or  the  broad  lands  tilled  by  the  groaning  serfs,  who 
crouch  at  a  master's  frown;  but  in  strong,  noble,  honest  men, 
pure,  free  and  hajppy  women,  sweet,  romping  babes,  on  whose 
cheek  the  rose  of  health  dances  in  the  sunlight  of  hope;  in  short, 
in  the  intelligence,  purity,  industry  and  happiness  of  the  peas- 
antry. 

By  a  judicious  investment  of  the  fortunes  given  to  monopo- 
lists, they  own  the  lands,  the  great  factories  ancr  the  transport 
lines,  so  that  labor  and  men  of  sma.ll  means,  have  no  power  or 
liberty  to  reject  the  terms  offered  by  these  special  wards  of  th-3 
law — passed  by  the  power  of  their  own  cash.  Though  a  com- 
paratively few,  by  reason  of  government  partnership,  have  pro- 
cured a  monopoly  in  all  the  chief  industries,  a,nd  have  used  their 
fabulous  power  to  overwhelm  American  labor  by  a  flood  of  the 
cheap  laborers  from  the  decaying  old  dynasties  of  Central  Eu- 
rope, wages  are  rather  better  in  America  than  in  other  coun- 
tries, especially  in  those  pursuits  which  are  far  removed  from 
the  withering  blight  of  "protectionism." 

It  has  been  to  the  interest  of  the  cunning  so  far  to  give  labor 
and  genius  some  scope.  The  "busy  bee,"  in  whose  little  form 
instinct  almost  invades  the  realm  of  intelligence,  never  stings 
the  drone  to  death  until  the  drone  has  done  his  work.  The  genius 
and  the  toil  of  the  present  and  the  past  have  been  reared  the 
palace  of  the  Aristocracy  of  the  future.  As  the  work  reaches 
completion,  the  web  is  being  woven  around  the  unconscious 
toiler,  that  he  may  be  harmless  when  no  longer  needed.  But 
other  influences  have  contributed  so  lavishly  to  the  independence 
and  value  of  labor  in  America,  that  in  spite  of  the  growing  power 
of  monopoly,  the  toiler  has  thus  far  received  a  reasonable  share 
of  respect  and  pay  for  his  efforts;  and  to  these  influences  is  labor 
indebted  for  all  of  its  apparent  liberty  and  good  wages. 

But  a  few  years  ago  our  ancestors  took  this  broa,d  conti- 
nent, fresh  from  the  hands  of  God.  There  was  not  a  track  in 


—141— 

the  valley  or  a  stump  in  the  forests.  The  belts  of  fertile  soil 
were  the  most  extensive,  the  mines  the  richest,  the  forests  the 
grandest,  and  all  the  needs  and  necessaries  for  a  new  age,  were 
scattered  over  the  land  with  the  most  lavish  hand,  and  with  a 
wealth  and  extent  unknown  to  the  ages  tha,t  sleep.  None  pos- 
sessed, and  smiling  nature  invited  man  to  his  best  efforts.  Men 
are  like  their  surroundings.  Grand  opportunities  a,nd  grand 
hopes  develop  a  grand  manhood.  We  hasten  to  accept  pleasing 
invitations,  and  here  all  being  flattered  into  the  enjoyment  of 
new  desires,  pushed  resolutely  ahead  to  reap  the  rewards  of  in- 
dustry. The  grea,t  mines  were  to  be  opened,  the  forests  felled, 
the  billowy  prairies  to  be  fashioned  into  green  gardens  and  golden 
fields.  Cottages,  towns,  cities  and  roads  were  to  be  built,  for  all 
was  raw  material.  This  made  a  demand  for  labor.  The  hordes 
from  a,ll  the  lands  of  Europe  came,  but  came  to  be  provided  with 
homes,  clothing  and  food.  This,  too,  made  a  demand  for  labor. 
There  were  mountains  to  be  tunneled,  canals  to  be  dug  and  new 
homes  to  be  made  toward  the  setting  sun,  and  this  drew  strong, 
active,  courageous  men  away  from  the  la,bor  centers,  from  the 
cities  and  towns,  and  left  room  for  others;  and  this  kept  up  the 
demand  for  labor,  and  kept  wages  high.  The  boundless  West, 
with  its  fertile  soil  and  sloping  hills,  was  the  dream  of  every 
man  of  spirit  of  the  more  crowded  Bast,  and  if  times  were  dull, 
or  opportunities  slack,  the  best  blood  moved  toward  the  setting 
sun,  leaving  room  for  those  who  might  come  after  them.  This 
kept  wages  high. 

If  there  was  a  strike,  or  lockout,  a  competition  for  work,  the 
labor  market  was  soon  unloaded  of  its  surplus  by  a  movement 
to  the  West.  Like  a  gla,cier  that  creeps  down  the  valley,  the 
hordes  of  the  East  have  over-run  the  West,  as  opportunities  were 
so  inviting  that  few  would  submit  to  hardship  or  even  to  a  dull- 
ness of  times,  when  such  luring  promises  were  held  out  in  other 
portions  of  our  common  land.  In  a  single  year  thirty-two  thousand 
new  homes  have  been  made  on  the  prairies  of  one  territory.  This 
emptied  the  more  densely  populated  country  of  its  redundant 
population,  and  left  room  for  others  to  earn  a  livelihood  in  their 
places.  But  this  was  not  the  whole  extent  of  the  influence.  This 
new  community  needed  thirty-two  thousand  new  houses,  as  many 
plows,  wagons,  harrows  and  other  utensils  of  agircultural  pur- 


—142— 

suits,  and  roads  over  which  to  haul  the  products.  Think  of  the 
activity  needed  to  supply  this  new  demand,  and  every  one  who 
became  busied  by  this  movement  left  a  place  for  another.  This 
has  made  a  demand  for  labor  and  kept  wages  high.  It  is  claimed 
that  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  new  houses  have  been  built 
in  a  single  year,  in  the  last  few  years — in  this  country.  Think 
of  the  number  of  men  employed  in  this  expansion.  Our  unoc- 
cupied land,  our  undeveloped  mines,  our  growing  population,  have 
demanded  an  expansion,  a  creation  of  the  new;  and  all  this  cre- 
ation or  expansion  has  withdrawn  men  from  the  labor  centers, 
or  kept  them  from  seeking  employment  there,  and  this  ha^s  kept 
wages  high,  by  keeping  up  the  demand.  Europe  is  grown,  is 
ripe,  is  finished,  and  only  labors  to  supply  daily  wants  and  keep 
up  repairs;  a  few  own  the  lands,  the  shops  and  the  raw  material. 
The  commonalty  is  down,  with  no  opportunities  but  a  contest 
with  those  having  the  start.  Wages  must  be  low.  In  our  country 
we  were  expanding,  creating  the  new,  with  a  sparse  population, 
and  a  place  for  every  man  of  energy  to  build  for  himself  a  fu- 
ture, and  up  to  quite  recently,  great  mines  and  broad  lands  where 
industry  might  clutch  a  fortune  and  vie  with  the  world  in  luxury. 
These  conditions  and  opportunities  made,  or  kept  wages  high, 
by  these  new  demands  keeping  pace  with  the  labor  supply.  There 
could  be  little  distress,  as  long  as  there  was  no  pressure  of  pop- 
ulation, and  little  depression  of  wages  until  there  was  a  sharp 
competition  for  a  privilege  to  toil.  Until  recently,  a  cross  word 
from  the  "boss,"  an  unjust  order  from  the  "president,"  a  tem- 
porary lockout  or  suspension,  or  attempt  at  reduction,  would  im- 
mediately empty  the  shop,  mine  or  factory,  because  other  fields 
invited  the  independent  toiler. 

Now,  let  us  stop  this  expansion,  this  creation  of  the  new, 
this  preparing  for  the  future,  as  effectually  as  it  is  checked  in 
Europe,  and  what  would  be  the  result?  Roll  back  this  grand 
army  of  sappers  and  miners,  these  builders,  these  explorers,  and 
throw  them  into  competition  with  the  toilers  in  the  older  and 
matured  industries,  and  six  months  would  find  wages  lower  m 
America  than  in  any  country  of  Europe,  and  an  actual  war  for 
bread. 

The  industrial  development  of  a  state  depends  upon  the  sup- 
ply and  accessibility  of  natural  resources,  the  supply  and  intelli- 


gence  of  labor  and  the  demand  or  salability  of  the  products.  With 
unlimited  markets  and  intelligent  labor,  wages  will  depend  upon 
the  material  and  its  accessibility.  With  a  very  large  class  of 
workers  and  no  raw  material,  labor  would  starve.  With  little 
raw  material,  difficult  of  access,  requiring  great  capital,  wages 
must  be  low,  as  the  competition  among  the  toilers  will  be  sharp. 
If  the  material  bears  about  a  proper  relation  to  labor,  wages  will 
be  fairly  high  and  all  the  workers  supplied.  Now,  with  an  un- 
limited or  developing  market,  with  abundant  and  accessible  raw 
material,  with  a  given  umount  of  labor,  wages  will  be  high,  and 
thoughtful  men  will  study  and  strive,  and  work  the  brain  to  in- 
vent some  means  of  saving  the  toil  of  these  valuable  men  and 
gathering  a  greater  profit  from  these  industries.  Wages,  then, 
depends  upon  natural  resources  and  market.  In  our  country  the 
resources  and  raw  material  are  most  abundant;  we  have  had  ac- 
cess to  a  limitless  market  and  consequently,  until  recently,  wages 
have  been  good.  Notwithstanding  every  possible  influence  has 
contributed  to  increase  the  supply  of  labor;  the  cheap  soil,  newly 
discovered  mines,  boundless  forests  and  fabulous  amounts  of  all 
raw  material,  have  kept  busied  all  hands,  a,t  fair  wages,  and  yet 
our  natural  health  is  not  half  known. 

But  a  change  has  come!  and,  though  our  exhaustless  raw 
material  would  busy  the  present  population  of  the  globe  for  a 
thousand  years,  it  is  made  inaccessible  by  reason  of  monopoly, 
and  labor  starves,  and  liberty  itself  lives  only  in  the  happy  mem- 
ories of  the  past,  or  in  blissful  ignorance  of  the  chains  that  it 
so  gracefully  wears. 

Not  only  is  it  true  tha,t  high  wages  are  necessary  for  a  coun- 
try's advancement,  but  the  social  system  is  so  sensitive  tha,t  the 
evil  effects  of  low  or  declining  wages  are  immediately  percepti- 
ble wherever  these  conditions  exist.  Of  course,  high  and  low 
wages  are  relative  terms.  Whatever  the  "wages"  in  dollars  and 
cents  may  be,  wages  may  be  said  to  be  high  when  they  bear  such 
a  relation  to  the  price  of  commodities,  that  an  industrious  and 
economical  laboring  man  may  save  from  the  fruits  of  his  toil, 
sufficient  to  provide  a  comfortable  home,  suitable  food,  clothing, 
education,  etc.,  for  a  family,  with  a  sufficient  surplus  to  insure 
the  necessities  and  comforts  of  age,  to  provide  against  the  dan- 
gers of  sickness  or  other  misfortune,  and  give  such  opportuni- 


tl^A  «       VSJ-        O 


—144— 

ties  for  moral  and  mental  culture  as  the  good  of  the  state  re- 
quires that  its  citizens  possess.  And  they  are  low  whenever,  or 
wherever,  this  accumulative  power  of  earnings  is  wanting.  Mor- 
ality and  good  citizenship  rests  upon  the  happiness  of  home,  and 
such  happiness  cannot  exist  where  poverty  sits  so  close  to  the 
door  that  a  few  days  of  enforced  idleness,  sickness  or  misfor- 
tune, brings  the  ghost  of  misery,  and  drives  away  every  smile, 
with  a  sigh  of  dread  for  the  future. 

Wages  ha,ve  been  gradually  sinking  for  fifteen  years  in  the 
United  States.  What  are  the  results?  The  crimes  that  follow 
in  the  wake  of  poverty,  or  fear  of  poverty,  are  alarming.  Crime 
is  a  disease,  not  of  the  individual,  as  many  writers  claim,  .but  of 
society,  a^nd  these  outbreaks  are  symptoms  which  show  a  pre- 
vailing danger.  A  majority  of  the  people  must  always  toil,  and 
when  they  act  from  the  desire  to  possess  a  home,  and  to  make 
that  home  happy,  they  are  safe  from  the  contaminating  Allure- 
ments of  vice,  as  long  as  they  see  those  desires  being  realized. 
When  the  conditions  promise  these  desired  results,  the  evidence 
of  public  prosperity  and  individual  happiness  is  witnessed  on 
every  hand.  Then  we  see  social  purity,  enterprise,  happiness, 
private  virtue,  morality  and  patriotism.  But  when  men  work 
under  the  lash  of  necessity,  with  no  means  but  muscle  and  in- 
dustry, and  see  only  health  warding  off  the  humiliating  miseries 
of  poverty  that  stands  not  three  days  from  the  door,  what  must 
be  the  results?  A  cloud  hangs  over  every  home  of  the  poor,  who 
are  always  in  the  majority.  Poverty  breeds  ignorance,  and  the 
fear  of  poverty  is  the  mother  of  the  most  lamentable  vices  and 
shocking  crimes,  so  frightfully  prevalent  today.  Suicide,  in- 
fanticide, insanity,  intemperance  and  prostitution  are  the  symp- 
toms by  which  the  health  of  society  may  be  judged.  We  may 
place  a  school  house  at  every  cross-road,  erect  a  church  in  every 
community,  inundate  the  country  with  temperance  reformers, 
endow  homes  for  fallen  women;  but  as  long  as  the  fear  of  pov- 
erty checks  marriage,  and  want  and  misery  and  fear  of  darker 
evils,  dwarf,  torture  and  deform  the  mental  faculties  of  the  great 
army  of  the  poor,  and  those  depending  only  upon  physical  or 
mental  effort  for  a  livelihood,  will  the  crimes  and  vices  that  break 
out  on  the  surfa.ce  of  society,  mar  our  country  with  their  fright- 
ful ravages.  The  fear  of  want  drives  the  mother  to  unspeakable 


—145— 

crimes,  the  father  to  insanity  or  suicide,  the  daughter  -to  shame, 
and  the  child  to  beggary  or  theft.  It  is  safe  to  assert  that  we  have 
more  ajarming  evidences  of  social  decadence  than  is  shown  in 
any  other  Christian  country.  It  may  be  said  that  these  vices  are 
not  confined  to  the  poor.  Granted.  Vice  is  contagious;  we  are 
moulded  by  our  surroundings;  try  as  we  may,  we  cannot  sever 
the  ties  that  bind  us  to  our  kind.  The  sacred  cord  touches  all 
hearts,  a,nd  the  crime  of  one  man  or  the  fall  of  one  woman  shocks 
the  whole  ocean  of  humanity.  A  few  may  remain  pure  amid 
scenes  of  vice,  but  the  man  who  can  be  happy  amid  scenes  of 
misery,  has  been  imbruted  by  their  influence.  I  want  no  heaven 
with  a  consciousness  that  one  soul  is  in  hell. 

For  fifteen  yea,rs  wages  have  been  lowering,  and  at  every 
downward  turn  we  see  tlfe  maniac's  glare,  the  ghastly  suicide,  the 
prison  gates  opening;  because  at  every  downward  turn  the  clouds 
of  despair  hang  more  darkly,  and  gloom  and  discontent  and  mel- 
ancholy feeds  the  bra,in  with  fiendish  phantoms  and  drives  mis- 
ery to  despair  and  crime.  Notwithstanding  our  fabulous  re- 
sources, crimes  and  vices  incident  to  idleness,  and  consequent 
discontent  and  poverty,  are  startling  the  careful  observer  with 
their  frequency.  Why?  Because  poverty  and  the  fear  of  far 
greater  evils  drive  thousands  to  insane  rashness.  This  train  of 
evils  comes  hand  in  hand  with  low  wages,  and  shows  a  corrupt 
and  sickly  social  organization.  I  mean  by  wages,  the  part  which 
any  producer  of  tangible  wealth,  with  its  relation  to  cost  of  liv- 
ing, receives  for  the  expenditure  of  his  energies. 

We  are  told  that  as  wages  are  higher  in  the  United  States 
an  in  other  countries,  our  social  difficulties  must  be  attributed 
to  other  causes.  I  answer  that  our  wages  a,re  declining,  while  in 
other  countries  they  are  rising.  The  conditions  of  others  are  im- 
proving; ours  are  getting  worse.  Hope  cheers  the  heart,  and 
leads  men  from  idleness  to  industry;  while  despair  drives  them 
to  madness.  The  business  man  who  sees  by  his  ledger  that  his  busi- 
ness is  improving,  be  it  ever  so  slowly,  carries  a  light  hea,rt  and 
answers  every  wish  of  loved  ones  with  an  encouraging  promise; 
but  if  the  ledger  tells  the  tale  of  steady,  constant  loss  and  in- 
evitable failure,  his  days  are  sad,  his  nights  sleepless,  and  when 
home  calls  for  comforts,  the  rea.1  sorrows  of  his  life  begin.  It 
signifies  nothing  that  labor  in  free,  great  America,  with  her 
—10- 


—146— 

boundless  resources,  gets  better  pay  than  the  depressed  serfs  of 
decaying  old  Europe,  where  church,  noble  and  aristocrat  have 
been  robbing  industry  for  two  thousand  years.  Where  labor  has 
produced  such  grand  results,  what  a  shame  that  it  should  be 
sinking  to  the  level  of  the  proletariat  of  the  Old  World.  Labor 
is  the  mud-sill,  the  basis  of  society;  and  if  the  foundation  is  cor- 
rupted or  shattered,  where  is  the  safety  for  the  fabric?  A  policy 
that  elevates  the  lowest  man,  elevates  every  man;  and  a  policy 
that  destroys  the  pride,  independence  or  manhood  of  one,  poisons 
the  whole  social  system.  Our  complex  civilization  is  ba,sed  upon 
mutual  interdependence,  and  there  is  a  co-relation  of  social  forces 
which  always  indicate  the  true  condition  of  a  people. 

We  occasionally  see  a  gay,  ha,ughty,  wealthy  and  licentious 
class,  charming  the  world  with  its  dazzling  show,  beneath  which 
boils,  groans  and  clamors  a  despairing  mass  of  almost  helpless 
humanity;  but  time  fires  the  volcano  and  the  palaces  are  shat- 
tered, the  wealthy  suffer  loss  and  the  noble  is  brought  to  hiai 
knees.  The  producer  asks  no  charity,  but  demands  justice;  he 
asks  no  favors,  but  demands  equal  opportunities;  he  asks  no  di- 
vision of  other's  wealth,  but  demands  free  access  to  the  natural 
resources,  which  God  gatve  for  the  use  of  all. 

The  lowering  of  wages,  the  cheapening  of  men  in  America, 
besides  endangering  liberty  and  our  institutions,  brings  us  face 
to  face  with  the  greatest  dangers  that  ever  fed  on  tbfe  vitals  of 
society,  and  the  crimes  and  vices  incident  to  decadence,  are  de- 
stroying honesty,  purity,  virtue,  home,  ajid  all  that  ennobles  man- 
hood. Enforced  idleness,  or  the  cheapening  of  men,  it  not  the 
SIGN  of  decadence,  it  IS  decadence.  Vanity  never  felt  more  se- 
cure, and  wealthy  insolence  was  never  more  boastful,  than  in 
Rome,  when  millions  prowled  the  streets  in  idleness,  and  the  hun- 
gry mob  was  fed  from  the  public  purse;  but  the  pride  was  soon 
humbled  a,nd  the  insolence  curbed.  It  is  praiseworthy  to  make 
money,  but  it  is  damnable  to  unmake  MEN,  in  making  money. 
If  society  is  not  directly  to  blame  for  the  crimes,  corruption  and 
suffering  of  today,  there  is  such  a  failure  of  the  social  arrange- 
ment as  to  demand  a  change.  The  profits  of  la,bor  must  be  in- 
creased or  the  social  fabric  falls. 

Our  soil  is  less  than  one-twentieth  cultivated,  our  mines  un- 
explored, our  native  forces  unutilized,  and  the  most  visionary 


—147— 


er  has  never  seen  the  tithe  of  our  wonderful  resources; 
yet  monopoly  shadows  the  la,nd,  and  the  law,  having  given  the 
keys  of  nature's  treasure  house  to  the  cunning  few,  stands  sen- 
nel  and  drives  industry  to  a  compromise  with  soft-handed  idle- 
ess  for  permission  to  exist.     This  is  the  closing  scene  of  the 
rst  act  in  the  great  drama,  put  upon  the  stage,  when  the  skies 
ere  crimson  from  burning  homes  and  the  hills  shook  with  the 
a.nnon's     boom     and     with     dying  groans.     The  bounties  given 
so  la,vishly  by  a  merciful  God  to  His  children,  to  cheer  them  for- 
ward to  a  grander  civilization  than  ever     before     existed,  were 
wrenched  from  the  people,  and  given  to  the  cunning,  idle  few, 
by  a  government  boasting  of  liberty. 

The  brain  grows  dull  when  muscle  is  cheap.     Genius  sleeps 
when  man  toils  under  the  lash  of  necessity.    When  man  becomes 
a  suppliant,  pride  and  manhood  and  patriotism  and  honor  take 
wings.     Social  progress  is  impossible,  unless  the  builder  of  so- 
ciety is  respected,  and  he  cannot  be  respected  unless  he  is  "valua- 
le."     Cheapening  men,  turns  back  the   wheel  of  progress,   de- 
hrones  brain,  and  inaugurates  a  rule  of  money  and  brute  force, 
o  unma,n  manhood,  to  stifle  independence,  and  put  the  lower 
millions  on   their  knees,   was  the  purpose  of  the  conspirators; 
and  to  cheapen  toil  by  monopolizing  all  upon  which  the  world 
subsists,  was  the  means  adopted  to  carry  out  the  plans.    The  reck- 
less hand  of  the  new  American  aristocracy,  aided  by  the  ruthless 
hand  of  the  la,w,  has  thus  torn  from,  the  honest  brow  of  toil  the 
badge  of  progress.     Look  over  the  country,  and  behold  the  re- 
tilts.    Who  lowers  wages,  lowers  morals,  patriotism,  intelligence, 
ublic  and  private  virtue,  puts  the  brakes  upon  the  wheels  of 
rogress,  and  bran'ds  the  nation  with  shame. 


—148— 


CHAPTER  XV. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

[NOTHER  feature  of  the  progressive  forces  of  develop- 
ment has  been  wrested  from  its  true  province  and  is 
being  ma,de  to  contribute  almost  as  much  to  the 
building  up  of  this  moneyed  despotism  as  any  other 
element  in  modern  society;  and  that  is  the  trans- 
portation lines.  With  our  advanced  civilization,  the 
greater  complexity  of  society  and  with  increased  de- 
sires, produced  by  refined  tastes,  greater  knowledge 
of  the  world's  luxuries  and  greater  financial  pros- 
perity, the  importance  of  transportation  becomes 
more  stupendous.  A  rude  people,  wearing  for  cloth- 
ing the  skins  of  beasts,  and  using  roots,  plants  and  flesh  for  food, 
satisfied  with  the  products  of  their  own  community,  would  need 
no  railroads  or  steamships,  and  people  who  would  follow  the 
teachings  of  some  modern  political  philosophers,  and  "buy  at 
home  and  sell  at  home,"  would  hardly  need  a  skiff  or  ferry  boat. 
For  four  thousand  years,  no  people  have  ever  built  a  civilization 
without  the  benefits  of  commerce,  and  no  people  ever  wrote  a 
pa,ge  of  history,  a  poem  or  a  drama,  whose  best  genius  was  not 
taxed  in  exploring  the  world  of  traffic. 

The  Phoenicians,  Tyrians,  Sidonians,  Carthagenians,  Greeks 
and  all  ancient,  as  well  as  modern  civilized  people,  who  snatched 
the  sombre  veil  from  dark  old  Asia  a,nd  barbarous  Europe,  hunt- 
ed the  metals,  climbed  the  mountains,  traversed  the  burning  des- 
erts, explored  the  seas  and  opened  by  force  of  argument  or  the 
sword,  a  trade  with  the  known  world.  A  genius,  awakened  by 
this  spirit  and  experience  gave  us  nearly  ajl  we  know— and  more 
has  been  lost  than  preserved — of  architecture,  sculpture,  poetry, 
literature  and  oratory,  and  many  of  the  most  valuable  discqv- 
eries  in  science.  This  fiery  genius,  born  of  commerce,  throws  so 


—149— 


azzling  a  picture  on  the  history  of  the  world  a^  to  almost  ob- 
ure  all  the  past,  and  as  it  sank  again  under  the  iron  heel  of 

ppression  another  cloud  settled  over  the  face  of  the  land  almost 
obscuring  the  intellectual  powers  of  man  for  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years  longer;  until  a  re-awakening  of  the  commercial  spirit 
e  at  the  call  of  the  giant  crusades. 
We  boast  of  the  progress  of  our  age,  but  we  have  flown  on 

he  wings  of  trade,  and  modern  commerce  was  born  of  necessity, 
save  the  waste  of  newly  discovered  forces.    Without  the  bulky 

roducts  of  America,  Europe  would  yet  be  struggling  in  her  an- 
cient garb.  There  would  have  been  no  railroads,  no  steam-ships, 
no  telegraphs  or  telephones;  the  population  would  have  been  30% 

ess  than  now;   her  cities  would  be  dingy,  her  streets  unpaved, 

er  people  unfed  and  poorly  clad,  and  to  suppress  a  dangerous 
discontent,  her  armies  would  have  been  cutting  each  other's 
throats.  It  was  not  the  torch  of  the  Goddess  of  Liberty  that 

othed  this  misery,  fed  this  hunger,  a,nd  dispelled  the  intellectual 
darkness,  but  the  bulky  products  of  America,  to  whose  thunder- 
ing voice  commerce  awoke  into  new  life  and  action.  The  mental, 
physical  and  moral  well-being  of  every  people  correspond  ex- 
actly with  the  degree  of  commerce  of  such  nation.  An  exclusive 
people,  who  "buy  and  sell  at  home,"  tolerate  a.  despotic  govern- 
ment; industry  starves  and  obeys,  while  idleness  lives  in  luxury 
and  rules;  the  "middle  class"  has  disappeared;  the  "common 
herd"  are  machines  that  are  run  for  the  benefit  of  the  few;  wages 
are  low,  and  the  millions  starve  with  a  loyal  economy,  incon- 
ceivable in  the  more  active  nations.  Such  nations  have  no  out- 
let— a,s  a  rule — for  surplus  population,  no  field  for  ambition,  and 
no  hope  for  betterment.  The  taste  must  be  narrowed  down  to 
the  limited  products  of  the  soil  and  climate  of  the  locality;  the 
desires  narrowed  down  to  the  tastes,  and  the  manhood  cramped 
to  the  cruel  conditions,  from  which  there  is  no  escape.  On  no  one 
spot  of  earth  is  there  a,  sufficient  variety  of  soil,  climate,  products 

nd  animals  to  lift  a  people  t6  a  fair  degree  of  civilization.  That 
why  God  banished  our  first  parents  from  Eden,  that  necessity 
might  drive  them  to  burst  open  the  treasure-house  of  nature, 
forge  weapons  from  hard  necessity,  ajnd  fight  down  the  obstacles 
of  life,  that  the  luxuries  of  other  gardens  might  be  enjoyed  with 
a  keener  relish.  The  first  shrill  blast  from  the  stinging  North, 


— 150— 

drove  an  idea  through  their  plastic  brains,  and  from  that  day 
there  has  been  an  unconquerable  longing  in  the  human  soul,  to 
know  and  see  the  world,  and  traffic  with  its  inhabitants.  As  fear, 
folly,  despotism  or  monopoly  has  curbed  this  spirit,  choked  and 
dwarfed  this  natural  desire,  has  maji  been  chained  to  the  hard 
conditions  of  our  first  parents,  in  the  narrow  walls  of  ignorance, 
slavery  and  superstition. 

In  the  Europe  of  today,  people  are  progressing  or  non-pro- 
gressing, in  the  exact  ratio  with  their  external,  or  foreign  tra,de. 
Those  who  will  not  buy,  cannot  sell,  and  owing  to  sameness  of 
soil  and  climate  in  a  limited  territory,  there  is  necessarily  a  small 
variety  of  products  and  manhood  develops  a,  physical  and  mental 
type  in  harmony  with  its  cramped  and  forced  environment,  and 
gradually  assumes  a  crystallized  non-progressiveness.  The  bold 
spirit  of  English  commerce,  which,  with  a  single  hand  clutches 
the  Arctic  seal  a,nd  the  southern  cocoa,  the  teas  of  China  and  the 
coffees  of  Brazil,  the  shawls  of  Cashmere  and  the  furs  of  Kam- 
chatka; upon  whose  ports  the  sun  never  sets;  upon  whose  flag 
the  shadow  never  falls;  whose  pulse  never  sinks,  whose  eye  never 
dims,  and  whose  hopes  never  fade;  is  unifying  the  world,  firing 
the  soul  of  humanity  with  her  zeal,  feeding  hunger,  clothing 
wretchedness,  striking  the  sha,ckles  from  slavery,  and  in  another 
century  will  give  her  language  to  the  Christian  world.  In  a  pro- 
gressive age  or  country — and  progression  only  means  a  reign  of 
uie  old  spirit  of  inquiry,  the  desire  to  see,  explore  and  know  the 
world,  to  exchange  sameness  for  variety  and  give  the  longing 
heart  the  broadest  scope  permitted  by  the  limits  of  our  meagre 
planet — where  the  world  is  a  competitor,  commerce  can  only  be 
developed  and  extended  by  perfecting  and  cheapening  the  system 
of  transportation. 

To  the  consumer,  transportation  is  a  part  of  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction. The  original  cost  of  finished  articles,  or  articles  so  far 
finished  as  to  be  ready  for  shipment  and  sale,  being  equal,  the 
ability  of  the  producer  to  sell  in  the  open  market  against  all  com- 
petitors depends  entirely  on  the  cost  of  transportation.  Rated 
on  an  ad  valorem  basis,  England  has  a  cheaper  system  of  tra,ns- 
portation  than  any  rival  country — if  indeed,  her  cheap  transporta- 
tion and  free  trade  ha,s  not  placed  her  beyond  rivalry — and  she 
utilizes  her  full  capacity.  She  sends  out  finished  goods  to  every 


CO 

E 


: 

w 


country  and  nation,  whose  freight  per  ton  would  be  but  a  small 
valorem  cost;   and  as  ballast,  and  returns  cargoes,  she  loads 
ith  hea,vy  coals,  metals  or  coarse  raw  material  for  her  ponder- 
us  mills.    Then  her  system  is  as  simply  as  it  is  cheap  and  profita- 
le;    giving  the  people   the  best,   quickest,   safest  and  cheapest 
transit  known  to  any  nation  or  age.     Other  nations  of  Europe 
carry  both  ways,  on  somewhat  the  same  principle,  and  the  freights 
e  but  a  small  ad  valorem  tax  on  the  goods  shipped. 

But  to  the  point  of  our  argument.     The  United  States  pro- 
uced  more  of  the  coarse,  cheap,  hea,vy,  bulky  commodities  than 
y     country.     Our     products,     being     cheap     and     cumbrous, 
e  per  cent  of  their  value  or  selling  price  which  it  costs  to  get 
hem  to  market,  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  in  fact,  upon  that 
ne  point  rests  our  ability  to  compete  with  other  countries  for 
ur  proper  share  of  the  world's  trade.     Pull  95%  in  bulk     and 
eight,  of  all  our  domestic  and  export  trade,  consists  in  these 
p,  heavy  products,  on  which  a  very  few  cents  per  ton  freights 
uld  give  us  the  first  rank  among  nations,  or  drive  us  from  the 
eld  of  competitors.     A  careful  consideration  of  these  facts  must 
nvince  the  most  obtuse  of  the  overwhelming  necessity,  which 
emands  a  system  superior  in  every  respect,  to  that  of  other  peo- 
les.    Now,  have  we  a,  transportation  system  commensurate  with 
e  demands  of  our  times  and  necessities?     The     first     enough t 
prompted  by  this  inquiry,  is  one  of  pride,  as  we  immediately  re- 
ember  that  we  have  over  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand 
iles  of  railroad,  or  more  than  half  the  railway  mileage  of  the 
orld;    with   the   best   roa,d-beds,    best   coaches,    engines,    shops, 
depots,  and  general  equipments  in  existence.     They  reach     out 
from  all  great  centers  to  all  parts  of  our  common  country,  car- 
rying the  most  fabulous  amounts  of  freight.     A  casual  observer 
would  declare  that  the  spirit  of  progress  had  breathed  a,  burn- 
ing enthusiasm  into  every  soul  of  our  nation  and  that  American 
commerce  must  eclipse  the  world  in  its  magnitude.    Yes,  in  spite 
of  obstacles  and  discouragements,  the  innate  desire,  the  strong 
necessity    and    natural    propensity   to    trade    and    exchange,    has 
pushed  these  enterprises  to  a  grandeur  never  dreamed  of  by  any 
preceding  generation.    As  if  commerce  was  a  withering  curse  and 
communication    contaminating,    the    paid    pleaders    of    monopoly 
have  never  tired  of  denouncing  the  spirit  of  enterprise  that  ig- 


—152— 

nores  geographical  lines,  and  have  applauded  the  policy  of  isola- 
tion that  keeps  our  business  in  the  one  great  family,  or  nation. 
So  persistent  have  these  manifest  follies  been  dinned  into  the 
ears  of  the  public,  and  so  successful  ha,ve  been  these  teachers, 
in  binding  their  chariots  to  the  cars  of  church  and  political  par- 
ties, that  many  people  have  yielded  to  the  sophistry,  whose  rea- 
son and  interests  revolted,  and  whose  practices  expose  their  in- 
consistency. If  the  buy  and  sell  at  home  policy  was  correct,  the 
persons  who  built  a  railroad  should  be  blown  to  the  moon  and 
the  sailor  should  be  sunk  with  his  ship.  But  it  is  not  correct,  and 
our  people  have  practically  renounced  a  policy,  so  at  variance 
with  the  spirit  of  the  times;  for  in  every  part  of  the  country, 
while  you  will  see  hearted  political  campaigns  carried  on,  with 
the  doctrine  of  "protection  to  American  industry"  as  an  issue, 
you  will  see  the  most  earnest  supporters  of  this  exclusive  policy, 
voting  heavy  subsidies  for  the  building  of  a  new  railroad  for  some 
eastern  syndicate,  as  it  promises  him  a  means  of  breaking  over 
the  walls  which  his  political  creed  would  rea,r,  and  give  him  an 
outlet  for  his  products.  There  has  been  a  war  of  these  social  en- 
ergies. Progress  claimed  the  new  field  of  America  for  her  own, 
but  old  centralism  denied  the  validity  of  the  title.  Progress  has 
proven  the  stronger  and  clothed  the  land  with  a  network  of  her 
handiwork;  but  cunning  guarded  the  cajnp,  held  the  papers,  gath- 
ered the  profits  of  the  enterprise,  and  by  intrigues,  pools  and  com- 
binations, have  turned  these  grand  instrumentalities  of  good  into 
instrumentalities  of  oppression.  To  strengthen  these  powers  of 
monopoly,  our  commercial  marine  was  annihilated,  and  our  whole 
carrying  tra.de  turned  over  to  rapacious  England,  as  before  re- 
marked, and  a  grievous  tax  put  upon  all  material  entering  in  any 
way  into  the  construction  of  transport  lines. 

This  heavy  tribute  levied  on  the  iron,  steel  and  other  ma- 
terials entering  so  largely  into  the  construction  of  railroads  and 
their  vast  machinery,  has  been  a  stumbling  block  in  the  path  of 
many  who  were- willing  to  see  the  truth.  They  argue  that,  if  pro- 
tective laws  were  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor,  or  were  the  re- 
sult of  the  influence  of  the  wealthy,  the  railroad  corporations 
would  defeat  such  legislation,  a,s  they  are  mostly  affected  by  such 
a  policy.  This  view  is  altogether  too  narrow.  It  is  easy  to  organ- 
ize and  maintain  an  understanding  with  a  few.  Combinations 


—153— 

and  pools  can  easily  be  arranged,  when  there  are  not  too  many 
interested  parties.  It  has  proved  a  difficult  task  to  oragnize 
farmers,  and  laboring  men  only  learned  the  lesson  from  neces- 
sity. Now,  if  it  requires  great  capital  to  build  and  equip  rail- 
roads, there  will  be  fewer  of  them,  thus  less  difficulty  in  effect- 
ing pools  and  combinations,  and  stronger  justification  for  asking 
aid  from  government  a,nd  communities.  Then,  th£  greater  cap- 
ital needed  for  such  enterprises,  the  more  secure  the  monopoly, 
and  more  profitable  the  business.  No  person,  court,  or  legisla- 
ture would  ask  a  schedule  of  freights  which  would  not  yield  a 
fair  profit  on  investment,  so  where  capital  was  abundant,  or 
people  ready  to  ma,ke  it  so  by  extravagant  donations,  the  greater 
the  cost  of  the  railroads,  the  more  profitable  the  investments. 
Great  capital,  too,  would  stand  more  "water"  without  exposing 
its  fluidity. 

Expensive  roa,ds,  too,  confined  the  giant  powers  of  these  cor- 
porations to  the  small,  aristocratic  class,  and  what  mattered  it 
what  the  transport  lines  cost,  if  congress  would  cede  an  empire 
on  which  to  build  them,  and  take  from  the  people's  purse  money 
to  pay  the  projectors  to  build  themselves  these  grea,t  lines  on  the 
land  so  granted.  To  secure  and  perpetuate  a  monopoly,  the  build- 
ing of  railroads  were  made  expensive,  and  a  glamour  thrown  over 
these  enterprises  that  screened  from  public  view  the  principles 
upon  which  the  plans  a,nd  works  were  carried  out.  Ignoring  the 
doctrine  of  "home  markets,"  the  public  good  demanded  great 
transportation  lines,  and  the  organized  few  of  the  upper  class, 
clutching  most  of  the  needed  means  from  the  public  purse,  have 
erected  for  themselves  the  finest  railroad  system  in  the  world. 
The  railroad  system  of  our  country,  as  an  industri'al  institution, 
with  its  thundering  trains,  its  levithan  locomotives,  its  brilliant 
equipages  and  wonderful  capacity  for  good,  must  excite  the 
pride  of  every  American,  and  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  the 
world.  But  these  corporations  ha,ve  become  masters,  and  people 
no  longer  kneel  to  a  despot  because  of  his  gorgeous  uniform. 

Granted,  that  we  have  an  incomparable  railroad  system, 
should  we  ask  whether  this  magnificent  system  of  the  aristo- 
cra,tic  class  which  formed  the  great  conspiracy  for  the  subversion 
of  industrial  liberty  and  imagination  could  not  have  pictured 
grander  results  than  have  been,  and  are  being  realized.  They 


—154— 

have  wonderfully  assisted  in  the  national  development;  but  they 
have  shaped  and  controlled  every  force  which  they  have  fostered, 
robbed  every  industry  born  of  their  enterprise,  and  appropriated 
the  profits  of  all  the  energies  which  they  have  awakened.  Tha,t 
their  encroachments  might  find  sanction  in  the  law,  they  have 
divided  the  spoils  with  congressmen,  corrupted  courts,  bought 
legislatures,  given  place  to  fawning  politicians,  carried  elections 
by  fraud,  bribery  and  intimidation,  and  cast  public  opinion  in 
golden  dies.  They  have  seduced  the  "people's  servants"  with 
the  cash  wrenched  from  the  people's  toil.  They  stand  at  the  head 
of  the  small  class,  which  annihilated  the  commercial  marine,  ex- 
pelled the  people's  foreign  customers,  contrived  the  bonded  debt, 
grabbed  the  public  lands,  built  up  great  factories,  by  the  aid  of 
a  tribute  levied  on  the  consumer,  and  loaned  the  surplus  wealth, 
taken  from  the  people's  earnings,  to  the  western  farmer,  and  cov- 
ered the  country  with  mortgages  and  tears. 

Then  our  grand  system  of  railroads  in  America,  instead  of 
serving  loyally,  the  best  interests  of  the  country,  by  giving  cheap, 
safe  and  impartial  and  equitable  transportation,  and  helping 
solve  the  problem  of  popular  government,  have  become  the  most 
formidable  instrumentalities  of  oppression.  By  unjust  rates  they 
impair  our  ability  to  compete  in  the  world's  markets;  by  discrim- 
inating freights  they  build  up  a  few  men  or  places,  at  the  expense 
of  many  men  and  many  places,  destroying  all  stability  in  business, 
subverting  that  equality  ajnong  all  men,  without  which,  democ- 
racy is  a  farce,  and  corrupting  public  sentiment,  thus  undermin- 
ing the  fundamental  strength  of  popular  government. 

Where  is  the  substantial  public  virtue,  which  is  the  mainstay 
of  free  government,  when  the  community  can  read  without  a 
shock,  a,nd  a  storm  of  indignation,  that,  "Mr.  Huntington  con- 
fesses that  one  item  of  expense  in  his  railroad,  amounting  to 
$2,000,000,  was  used  in  the  lobby  of  congress?"  When  gigantic 
crimes  are  crowned  with  the  majesty  of  public  applause,  where 
is  the  public  sense  of  honor?  Without  a  public  conscience,  where 
is  patriotism?  With  patriotism  gone,  who  guards  liberty? 

There  can  be  nothing  more  dangerous  to  politica.1  equality, 
more  destructive  to  the  poor,  more  corrupting  to  the  young,  who 
are  often  beguiled  into  splendid  villainy,  or  more  demoralizing, 
degrading,  or  ruinous  to  that  political  party,  which  a  "free  bal- 


lot"  was  designed  to  protect  and  refine,  than  the  meddling  of 
these  moneyed  corporations  in  loca,l,  state  and  national  politics. 
There  are  near  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  persons  employed 
by  railroad  transport  lines  in  this  country.  As  a  rule,  they  are 
alert,  active,  intelligent,  reliable,  enthusiastic  and  obedient  ser- 
va,nts.  They  love  the  exciting  life,  and  soon  become  wedded  to 
the  general  interest.  No  industry  in  America  can  furnish  such 
an  army  of  intelligent  workers,  whose  earnest  energy  would  give 
them  such  power.  They  mingle  with  the  people,  at  depots,  on 
trains  and  in  general  business.  They  know  the  public  senti- 
ment, as  they  feel  the  public  pulse.  They  are  scattered  over  a 
continent,  in  every  locality,  town,  city,  county  a,nd  state,  thou- 
sands of  miles  apart,  yet  are  able  to  communicate  as  easily  as 
if  face  to  face.  These  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  people, 
are  the  best  pa,id  laboring  and  business  men  in  America,  and  are 
trained  to  a  devotion  to  corporate  interest.  They  are  honest  and 
true,  and  are  encouraged  into  a  feeling  that  each  is  a  part  of  the 
most  useful  and  gra,nd  industrial  system  on  earth.  These  em- 
ployes are  expected,  not  only  to  perform  well  all  the  various  busi- 
ness duties  assigned,  but  their  influence,  their  sympathies, 
their  every  effort,  belongs  to  the  corporation  which  they  serve. 
With  the  click  of  a  battery,  every  agent,  conductr,  baggage-mas- 
ter, brakema,n  and  shoveler  is  assigned  to  an  additional  duty,  and 
thousands  or  ten  thousands  are  acting  a,s  one  man,  and  building 
the  bridge  on  which  a  favorite  of  the  corporation  may  cross  from 
obscurity  to  the  "bench,"  to  the  legislature  or  to  congress. 
Through  such  a,  faithful  and  alert  agency,  the  corporation  knows 
every  hope  and  fear,  and  personal  measure  for  relief,  and  every 
feeling  of  dicontent,  and  its  depth  and  degree. 

As  "corporations  have  no  souls,"  neither  have  they  politics, 
further  than  that  all  persons  elected  must  be  susceptible  to  the 
force  of  "argument."  In  every  election,  especially  legislative, 
judiicial  or  congressional,  you  may  see  the  work  of  a  cunning 
hand  along  all  of  the  "great  lines"  of  the  country.  It  is  "very 
importani  that  county  officers,  and  especially  sheriffs,  should  be 
in  sympathy  with  the  railroads — and  they  usually  are.  The  lead- 
ing lawyers  of  all  parties  are  in  the  constant  employ  of  the  cor- 
porations. Reliable  clickers  are  kept  under  pay  or  under  obliga- 
tions for  seductive  favors,  in  every  county  seat,  who  aje  to  know 


—156— 

the  feelings  and  sympathies  of  all  men  who  are  likely  to  be  in- 
duced to  loiter  around  the  court  house  when  a  railroad  case  is 
coming  on,  that  a  jury,  "good  and  true,"  may  be  found.  The 
little  judge,  who  gravely  scans  the  jury,  was  recently  taken  from 
a  small  practice  in  a  country  town  by  a  political  caucus,  with  the 
"station  agent"  as  chief  factor,  and  has  in  his  pocket — as  elastic 
as  his  conscience — a  "retainer"  from  every  transportation  cor- 
poration in  the  state.  He  was  elected  by  the  people  to  deal  out 
impartial  justice,  without  fear  or  "favor,"  and  before  he  ta.kes 
his  seat  he  closes  his  conscience,  opens  his  hand  and  take's  a 
"favor"  from  a  party  upon  whose  case  he  knows  he  will  be  eajled 
to  decide. 

Unless  driven  to  beggary,  no  honest  man  will  accept  a 
"favor"  which  he  ca,nnot,  or  does  not  expect  to  return.  The  pass 
to  the  judge  is  meant  as  a  bribe,  as  the  giver  has  learned  the 
price  of  the  man.  Did  the  obscure  lawyer,  before  he  donned  the 
title  which  Story  bore,  when  he  was  powerless  to  help  or  hurt 
the  corporations,  wear  passes  in  his  pockets?  The  judge  who 
will  accept  a  favor  from  a,  party  to  a  case  on  which  he  is  to  de- 
cide, merits  the  contempt  of  all  honest  men,  yet  a  vast  majority 
of  the  bench"  carry  these  "favors,"  from  parties,  sure  to  come 
"before  them,"  parties,  too,  whose  desires  are  diametrically  an- 
tagonistic to  the  interests  of  the  people  who  ma,de  a  powerful 
judge  of  a  powerless  lawyer.  The  law-making  department  is 
fully  as  "handsomely"  owned,  and  is  as  likely  to  "stay  bought." 
The  corporation  influence  is  felt  in  every  convention,  if  not  in 
every  "primary,"  and  efforts  made  to  secure  the  nomination  of 
men  who  will  be  "useful"  to  monopoly.  In  districts  which  are 
close,  a  letter  from  a  prominent  personage,  holding  high  rank  in 
railroad  circles,  to  each  candidate,  expressing  sentiments  of 
"esteem"  and  earnest  hopes  for  success,  is  usually  a  very  proper 
thing,  and  a  small  contribution  "quietly"  made  to  each  side  is 
a  shrewd  investment.  Our  political  contests  are  bitter,  the  peo- 
ple exhausting  all  means  for  the  election  of  a  favorite  who  is  ex- 
pected to  sta.nd  bravely  by  his  duty  and  work  for  their  interest, 
and  before  the  "condensed  wisdom"  of  the  state  meets  for  the 
"winter's  entertainment,"  every  "public  servant"  who  goes  to 
"protect  the  interest"  of  the  people  in  general,  and  his  constitu- 
ents in  particular,  has  accepted  a  "favor,"  a  value  for  which  he 


—157— 

has  rendered  no  equivalent,  and  acknowledges  obligations  to  the 
great  corporations,  whose  desires  are  enemies  to  the  public  good. 
You  say  it  is  a  custom  and  no  wrong.  I  say  it  is  the  more  mon- 
strous ana  dangerous  because  a  custom.  Where  crime  becomes 
so  common  that  it  is  excused  or  approved,  we  are  certainly  on 
dangerous  grounds,  for  despotism  has  always  been  the  most  suc- 
cessful, when  clad  in  kid  gloves  and  a  grin. 

Riding  recently  on  a  western  train,  I  saw  sitting  but  a  few 
seats  in  front  of  me,  a  rustic  looking  gentleman,  whose  every 
appearance  showed  him  to  be  a  man  of  small  culture  and  little 
experience.  He  wore  a  suit  of  *heavy,  substantial  clothes,  and 
"cowhide"  boots.  His  long,  leathery  upper  lip  was  clean  shaven, 
his  face  was  rough  and  ruddy,  his  long  hair  was  thick,  strong 
and  crooked.  His  nose  was  an  elongated  pug,  with  a  slightly 
"partisan"  tint  and  he  wore  a  standing  collar  that  disputed  with 
his  long  ears  for  position  nearest  the  rim  of  an  antique  slouch 
hat.  He  had  boarded  the  train  a,t  a  very  small  country  town,  and 
had  assumed  an  ease  that  would  have  betrayed  the  identity  of 
the  road's  president. 

Soon  the  conductor  entered  the  front  door  and  reached  for 
"tickets."  The  rural  gentleman  hesitated,  evidently  waiting  to 
be  passed  by  recognition,  but  failing  to  "impress,"  fumbled  rather 
savagely  in  his  pockets  and  produced  a  "pass."  "There,"  said 
he,  "will  that  answer?"  The  polite  conductor  tipped  his  hat  with 
an  easy  smile  a^nd  passed  along.  Coming  to  me,  he  turned  toward 
the  "noted  gentleman"  and  said:  "Holy  Moses!  that  fellow  is 
a  law-maker.  He  was  never  on  the  train  before,  but  being  elect- 
ed by  the  farmers  to  protect  their  interests,  he  became  'worth 
looking  after,'  and  he  feels  now  as  though  he  owned  the  roa,d. 
There  is,"  said  he,  "no  question  about  his  fighting  monopolies. 
Oh,  no!"  Now  why  do  the  railroads  make  haste  to  "compliment" 
these  political  "accidents?"  Did  the  same  gentleman  ever  receive 
such  "marked  attention"  before?  Corporations  aje  not  run  for 
charitable  purposes.  They  expect  a  good  return  for  every  dollar 
invested,  and  rarely  make  a  mistake.  These  gentlemen  get  pay 
for  their  time  and  mileage  for  the  distance  traveled.  The  people 
pay  it,  and  where  is  the  necessity  for  taking  a  fee  from  a  system 
of  corporations  that  are  bleeding  every  industry  in  the  West, 


—158— 

especially  agriculture,  and  do  it  through  the  use  of  the  "people's 
servants?" 

With  charity  for  huma>n  frailty,  I  confess  an  opinion  that 
most  of  these  gentlemen  are  honest,  but  having  accepted  a  favor, 
are  they  free?  If  they  will  render  no  service  for  favors  shown, 
how  can  they  afford  to  give  their  "railroad  friends"  the  encour- 
agement by  accepting  their  "compliments?"  Should  one  of  these 
law-makers  Accept  a  hundred  dollars  from  a  corporation,  the 
evening  before  a  "bill  to  regulate  state  commerce"  was  to  be 
called  up,  the  whole  state  would  howl  with  rage;  but  the  fact 
being  known  that  nearly  every  member  has  accepted  from  ten 
to  a  hundred  dollars — "worth  of  ride,"  or  "compliments,"  there 
is  only  a,  secret  feeling  of  passive  contempt. 

These  same  influences  are  used,  and  in  much  stronger  de- 
gree with  congress,  and  in  congressional  elections.  Monopoly  has 
no  politics  but  success;  and  "money  is  no  object,"  if  it  will  se- 
cure the  election  of  a  pliant  tool  for  monopoly  interest.  In  the 
congressional  elections  of  1886  there  was  so  little  effort  made  to 
conceal  the  lavish  use  of  money  that  the  managers  of  that  branch 
of  the  campaign  service  were  almost  insolent  in  the  confidence 
of  victory — often  vaguely  intimating  the  basis  of  their  calcula- 
tions. In  several  western  states,  and  notably  in  Iowa,,  it  is  well 
known  who  gave  and  took  corporation  cash  for  political  corrup- 
tion, when,  where,  and  how  much  was  used  and  just  for  whalj 
purpose  .  Party  cut  no  figure.  The  politics,  the  religion  and  mor- 
ality of  monopoly  is  success. 

Both  houses  of  congress  a,re  full  of  monopoly  representatives, 
whose  duties  are  specialized,  and  the  shrewd  millionaire  in  the 
lobby  is  standing  guard,  to  see  that  his  property  stays  bought.  As 
it  has  never  been  definitely  ascertained  just  what  degree  of  out- 
rage the  people  would  submit  to,  if  perpetrated  under  forms  of 
law,  congress  has  been  patiently  experimenting,  and  time  may 
prove  that  their  precaution  has  kept  a  great  many  dollars  from 
the  monopolists. 

If  it  were  a  fiction,  how  strange  it  would  sound  to  say  that 
in  a  great  western  state,  which  ha,d  been  fleeced  throtfgh  subsi- 
dies, poolings,  discriminations  and  a  vicious  system  of  rebates 
and  favoritisms,  a  gentleman  who  had  accumulated  a  great  for- 
tune through  these  corporation  agencies,  who  had  been  a  "promi- 


—159— 

nent  factor"  in  the  politics  of  his  state,  now  proposed  to  mount 
his  million  and  by  the  majesty  of  its  mystic  power  ride  into  the 
United  States  senate,  as  "representative"  of  a  people  whom  he 
had  helped  to  rob.  Hearing  such  a  story,  I  asked  the  relator4 
what  were  the  qualifications  of  the  aspiring  gentleman,  and  why 
he  desired  to  go  to  the  senate.  "Qualifications!"  said  he  in  sur- 
prise, "why,  he  is  worth  a  cool  million,  and  what  is  more  potent 
in  politics  than  a  million  dollars?"  Alas,  I  know  not,  unless  it 
be  several  million!  Think  of  the  seats  of  Clay  a,nd  Webster  and 
Benton  and  Calhoun  "knocked  down"  to  the  highest  bidder.  The 
Pretorian  guard  sold  the  "purple"  of  Rome,  but  how  long  would 
Caesar  have  lived  in  history,  had  he  bought  his  laurel  crown  from 
a  flower  girl,  instead  of  winning  it  in  a  thousand  battles?  Can 
the  hand  of  avarice,  that  clutches,  by  Devious  means,  a  million, 
coin  its  gains  into  wings  and  fly  to  honor's  throne?  If  the  rail- 
road shoveler,  driven  to  want,  from  four  week's  enforced  idle- 
ness, steals  a,  loaf  of  bread  to  keep  the  glassy  eyes  of  want  from 
haunting  him,  the  "strong  hand  of  the  law"  grasps  him  by  the 
collar  and  drags  him  to  a  dismal  jail;  but  if  the  railroad  president, 
carried  to  opportunities  by  ten  years'  pala,ce  car  junketing,  robs 
the  people  who  entertain  him,  of  a  million,  a,  strong  party  will 
lay  hold  of  the  happy  occasion,  and  send  him  to  the — United 
States  senate.  There  is  said  to  be  fifty  millionaires  in  the  sen- 
ate. How  did  they  get  there?  How  ma,ny  great  men  are  there? 
How  many  are  there  who  do  not  owe  their  elevation  to  wealth, 
to  the  efficacy  of  "boodle?" 

The  constitution  contemplated  that  the  senate  represent  the 
sovereign  states;  but  it  has  become  to  represent  the  "sovereign" 
corporations.  The  first  inquiry,  on  learning  of  tKe  election  of 
a  new  senator,  is,  how  he  made  his  "millions?"  If  we  a,re  in- 
formed that  he  is  not  worth  a  million,  we  sneer  at  a  state  for 
electing  so  cheap  a  legislator. 

We  see  a  great  senator,  whose  loyalty  to  class  interests  ha,d 
never  been  questioned  by  the  most  suspicious  corporation  agent, 
and  the  appreciation  of  whose  services  to  his  wealthy  clients  is 
proven  by  his  swollen  purse,  champion  for  three  months  in  the 
six  years'  term,  the  cause  of  his  "constituents,"  that  he  may  be 
"returned"  to  ma,ke  merchandise  of  their  interest  an*d  bask  in 

smiles  of  Washington's  fair  society.     We  see  him  enriched 


—160— 

by  corporations  which,  by  his  aid,  had  robbed  his  slate.  We  see 
him  take  sides  on  a  great  question  in  which  the  demands  of  the 
corporations  a,re  opposed  to  the  public  good,  and  making  a 
''school  house  campaign"  in  the  interests,  not  of  his  constituents, 
but  of  his  clients — the  corporations.  We  see  the  people  reject  his 
superfluous  advice,  condemn  at  the  ballot  box  his  teachings,  and 
stamp  his  political  course  with  a  seal  of  condemnation. 

But  with  a  charming  ajacrity  and  &  willingness  to  "sacrifice" 
another  six  years  in  the  "service  of  the  people,"  he  grasps  the 
anti-monopoly  colors  and  swears  that  the  opposition  to  corpora- 
tion abuses  had  always  been  a  cardinajl  principle  in  his  political 
laith.  Then  we  see  him  return  to  the  capital,  arise  majectically 
from  his  seat,  and,  by  "unanimous  consent,"  proceed  to  excoriate 
the  monopolists  for  their  cruel  and  unjustifiable  "extortions," 
practiced  on  his  people.  How  the  fiends  of  hell  must  have  burst 
with  glee  and  shook  the  throne  of  hades  with  boisterous  ap- 
plause, to  behold  the  great  railroad  lobbyists  looking  down  from 
the  gorgeous  senate  galleries  and  see  them  chuckle  over  the 
"crocodile  tears,"  which  drenched  the  "manly  cheeks"  of  the 
grea,t  senator,  as  with  a  Mehodistic  voice  he  exhibited  true  pic- 
tures of  corporate  oppression,  prepared  for  him  at  a  previous 
"conference."  What  a  brilliant  scene  for  the  western  granger, 
crushed  by  heavy  freights,  could  he  have  stood  behind  the  cur- 
tains and  witnessed  the  ceremonies  of  that  "conference,"  between 
the  courtiers  of  the  American  aristocracy  a,nd  the  sworn  repre- 
sentative of  his  state.  How  his  heart  would  glow  with  honest 
patriotism,  to  see  from  his  hiding  place  the  king  of  the  lobby, 
gracefully  waving  a  wine  glass  in  his  left  hand,  approach  hit  be- 
loved senator,  and  eloquently  address  him  thus:  "Mr  Senator, 
something  must  be  done  or  you  are  going  to  be  beaten.  Your 
people  out  there  on  the  prairies  are  getting  sharp.  We  have  pre- 
pared a  bill  which  you  must  offer  tomorrow,  prefacing  it  with  a 
bitter  speech  against  us.  You  must  shame  Niobe  with  your  tears 
and  lago  in  dissembling.  We  will  a.11  be  in  the  gallery,  and  you 
must  give  us  h — 1.  It  is  the  only  thing  that  will  save  you."  How 
the  granger's  heart  would  warm  with  love  for  "representative 
government."  How  he  would  bow  adorations  to  the  champions 
of  right.  Leaving  Washington  with  deep  disgust,  imagine  his 
surprise  on  reaching  his  western  home,  to  see  all  of  his  pa,rty 


—161— 

papers,  "big  and  little,"  good,  bad  and  indifferent,  parading  the 
great  speech  and  lauding  the  great  senator,  as  the  bold  champion 
of  the  people's  rights  and  urging  his  re-election  in  the  interest 
of  reform.  Wha,t  a  solemn  mockery,  and  yet  how  indifferent 
seem  the  people  to  these  shocking  inconsistencies.  It  seems  im- 
possible that  intelligent  men  could  view  without  alarm  these  ten- 
dencies, fraught  with  such  dangers  to  liberty.  Must  we  believe 
in  matters  of  so  great  moment  that: 


'Vice  is  a  monster  of  so  dreadful  mien 
As  to  be  hated,  needs  but  to  be  seen; 
But  seen  too  oft,  familiar  with  her  face, 
We  first  endure,  then  pity,  then  embrace." 


What  sa,dder  thought  than  that  political  vices  have  become 
so  common  as  to  excite  no  criticism  and  no  aversion,  but  rather 
to  charm  by  the  magnitude  of  their  audacity. 

In  what  country  or  age  but  ours,  could  the  following  dispatch 
received,  without  exciting  a  feeling  of  surprise  and  indigna- 


New  York,  Jan.  7. — A  Washington  special  to  the  News  says: 
"It  is  hinted  that  the  names  of  the  congressmen  holding  'calls'  on 
Union  Pacific  will  soon  be  published,  and  there  is  much  alarm 
in  certain  circles.  It  is  rumored  that  over  $2,000,000  can  bel 
traced  to  members  as  having  been  paid  by  the  railroad  to  secure 
the  passage  of  the  funding  bill.  One  congressman  is  said  to  have 
received  $250,000.  The  lobbyist,  Sherrill,  paid  out  over  $500,000 
the  week  before  he  died." 

Beyond  the  hope  of  a  few,  that  friends  have  not  lost  an  "op- 
portunity" or  been  ca,ught,  the  dispatch  excites  no  comment,  cre- 
ates no  surprise,  and  is  less  a  subject  of  remark,  than  a  hammer- 
ing match  between  two  bullies,  or  the  leap  of  a  dunce  from 
Brooklyn  bridge.  In  the  better  days  of  the  republic  such  a  re- 
port would  have  shocked  the  whole  country,  and  aroused  the  very 
children  with  a,  feeling  of  hatred  and  contempt.  Shall  we  say 
that  the  people  are  indifferent,  or  that  the  public  morals  have  be- 
come harmonized  with  elevated  modern  social  and  political  prac- 
tices? 

What  could  more  rapidly  drive  sensible  men  into  disgust  and 


—162— 

contempt  for  politics,  and  finally  to  a  lack  of  confidence  in  popu- 
lar government  and  respect  for  institutions,  than  tlie  recent 
shameful  squabbles  in  the  legislatures  of  Ohio,  New  Jersey,  In- 
diana, Nebraska  and  other  states,  over  the  election  of  United 
States  senators?  The  fact  is  patent  to  all,  that  if  there  was  no 
money  in  these  games  there  would  be  no  such  scramble.  None 
doubt  that  corporation  cash  is  the  basis  of  these  disgusting 
scenes.  The  monopoly  agents  are  determined  to  drive  honest 
men  out  of  politics,  to  degrade  the  voter  to  a  political  chattel  a,nd 
gratify  the  aspirations,  only  of  the  very  wealthy,  or  those  who 
will  serve  them.  Think  of  a  man  representing  the  "interest  of  a 
sta,te,"  whose  seat  was  bought  with  the  cash  wrenched  by  corpor- 
ate greed  from  his  constituents.  And  yet,  so  corrupt  have  become 
the  times,  so  indifferent  has  become  the  public,  that  a  senator 
wears  the  stamp  of  pribery,  as  the  laurels  of  a  "political  victory," 
and  as  gracefully  a£  a  preacher  wears  his  robes. 

The  United  States  senate,  the  "House  of  Millionaires,"  h^s 
become  the  stay  and  prop,  the  very  spine  of  the  great  corpora- 
tions, and  as  the  transportation  corporations  are  the  most 
wealthy  a,nd  best  organized,  they  have  gained  a  wonderful  hold 
on  the  country  by  controlling  this  branch  of  the  national  leg-* 
islature.  Richelieu  was  never  more  skilled  in  intrigue  and  finesse 
than  these  haughty  patricians.  The  people  are  patient  and  credu- 
lous, but  intolerable  avarice  and  insolence  have  aroused  the  public 
inquiry,  and  obedience  to  politicl  teachers  is  no  longer  lauded 
as  a  saving  virtue.  The  leaders  have  sought  to  conciliate  the 
masses  and  soothe  their  discontents  by  appeals  to  pride  of  na,- 
tional  progress.  But  the  wrongs  have  become  so  gigantic,  and 
lamentable  effects  are  so  easily  traced  to  their  manifest  causes, 
that  a,  spirit  of  inquiry  has  arisen,  demanding  a  reversal  of  the 
policy  as  a  remedy  for  existing  evils.  For  years  the  public  mind 
has  been  fed  on  the  pride  of  national  expansion,  a  prejudice  of 
the  commercial  spirit  of  other  countries,  and  a  hatred  of  the  South 
tnat  begged  for  mercy  and  returned  to  its  allegiance  more  than 
twenty  years  ago.  But  the  songs  are  old,  the  yoke  heavy,  and 
the  people  have  discovered  that  the  music  was  but  the  lullaby  of 
a  deceiver,  and  the  burden,  a  tyrant's  scourge. 

But  the  ma.sk  has  been  rent,  and  the  people  begin  to  see  that 
they  have  been  hoodwinked  by  a  horde  of  designing  sycophants, 


—163- 

who  had  quieted  their  apprehension  by  appeals  to  pride  or  preju- 
dice, that  they  might  safely  rob  them.  But  the  workers  in  every 
section  are  arousing. 

The  clans  are  being  marshalled  against  a  common  foe.  The 
cry  of  the  "paupers"  of  Europe,  or  the  payment  of  the  rebel  debt, 
or  the  pensioning  of  rebel  soldiers,  or  the  re-enslavement  of  the 
blacks,  or  the  dangers  from  "rebel  brigadiers,"  no  longer  fright- 
ens the  people,  and  the  awakening  of  the  great  masses,  ha,s 
thoroughly  alarmed  the  "house  of  millionaires,"  who  see  the  cause 
of  their  clients  endangered.  Investigation  means  ruin,  and  the 
attention  of  these  "meddlesome  masses"  must  be  diverted.  This 
dangerous  current  of  public  opinion  must  be  changed.  Wha,t  can 
be  done? 

The  usurping  Henry,  who  had  climbed  to  the  throne  upon  the 
backs  of  ambitious  nobles,  whom  he  afterwards  killed,  in  warning 
the  younger  Harry,  who  was  about  to  assume  the  burdens  of 
rule,  said  of  the  dangerous  influences  he  had  found,  and  the  ma^n- 
ner  in  which  he  had  disposed  of  them: 

"By  whose  fell  working  I  was  first  advanced, 
And  by  whose  powers  I  might  well  lodge  a  fear 
To  be  again  displaced;    which  to  avoid, 
I  cut  them  off;  and  had  a,  purpose  now 
To  lead  out  many  to  the  Holy  Land; 
Lest  rest,  and  lying  still,  might  make  them  look 
Too  near  into  my  state.    Therefore,  my  Harry, 
Be  it  thy  course  to  busy  giddy  minds 
With  foreign  quarrels;  that  action  hence  born  out, 
May  waste  the  memories  of  the  former  days." 

Ah,  haj>py  thought.  Thanks,  immortal  Shakespeare.  How 
to  "busy  giddy  minds  with  foreign  quarrels,"  to  divert  public 
attention  from  domestic  wrongs,  lest  "rest  and  lying  still"  would 
allow  the  people  to  demand  justice  from  this  oppressive  system, 
this  small  squad  of  railroad  attorneys,  in  the  United  States  sen- 
ate, have  determined  to  arouse  a  public  feeling  agajnst  Canada. 
What  an  audacious  insult  to  the  American  people,  when  demand- 
ing redress  for  the  most  grievous  wrongs,  to  have  the  bosses  ot 
the  masses  and  the  tools  of  monopoly  point  to  Canada,,  and  try 


—164— 

to  "sic"  on  the  American  people  as  they  would  hiss  a  cur  on  a 
rat.  When  other  interests  intervene,  and  these  sophists  demand 
a  war  and  the  annexation  of  Canada,  how  readily  they  threw 
overboard  the  hypocrisy  about  "free  trade,"  with  that  country 
ruining  American  industry.  But  the  people  want  peace,  and  to 
be  secured  in  the  suits  of  their  industries,  and  not  war  with  the 
waste  a,nd  destruction  of  the  products  of  industry.  The  whole 
clamor  about  probable  war  with  Canada,  has  no  other  purpose 
than  to  divert  public  attention  from  domestic  oppression,  and 
every  man  who  encourages  such  a  controversy,  is  a  traitor  to 
his  country's  best  interests. 

But  these  demagogues  incorrectly  estimate  the  earnestness 
of  the  people.  The  poor  man,  the  laboring  man,  the  farmers 
a,nd  the  producers  must  always  furnish  the  corpses,  the  graves, 
the  widows  and  orphans,  the  cripples  and  prisoners  of  every  war, 
and  they  are  not  going  to  leave  their  war  against  corporation 
oppression,  and  "fall  in"  at  the  bugle  call  of  the  oppressor,  to 
shoot,  and  kill,  a,nd  rob  and  impoverish  their  brethren,  who  are 
struggling  against  the  same  class  oppression,  on  account  of  a 
misunderstanding  about  a  little  fish  bait. 

The  present  effort  to  start  a  game  of  cut-throat  between  the 
producers  of  the  United  States  ajid  Canada,  for  the  amusement 
and  profit  of  corporate  greed,  will  fail;  for  there  is  Mexico,  Cuba 
and  the  Southern  canal  to  quarrel  about,  and  Cana'da  will  remain 
handy  for  occasions  that  others  might  not  give.  The  people 
must  stand  on  guard.  When  monopoly  smiles,  feel  for  your  purse; 
when  the  -house  of  "lords"  talks  about  "national  honor,"  na- 
tional manhood  is  going  to  be  robbed. 

Let  us  not  be  deceived.  We  will  hear  many  rumors  of  pros- 
pective wars;  but  the  buzzards  will  starve  if  they  wait  for  the 
carcasses  of  the  gentlemen  who  prate  so  eloquently  of  a  national 
honor.  It  would  be  a  rich  man's  war,  but  a  poor  man's  fight. 
But  let  us  not  be  deceived;  monopoly  would  take  a  father  from 
every  home,  a  son  from  every  family  and  drench  every  field  with 
blood  rather  than  have  the  public  look  too  closely  into  its  tyr- 
annous rule. 

Why  should  the  young  men,  who  are  full  of  hope  for  the 
future,  and  the  poor,  whose  best  efforts  are  needed  at  home,  want 
to  go  and  butcher,  murder,  and  destroy  the  same  class  of  their 


—165— 

brethren  in  Canada?  How  disgustingly  idiotic  such  a  proposition 
is.  The  people  feel  the  weight  of  a,  terrible  oppression,  and  when 
they  demand  a  remedy,  the  oppressor  points  to  Canada,  and  says, 
"Yes,  things  are  in  a  bad  shape;  go  and  whip  Canada" — which 
only  mea,ns,  "Go,  you  grumblers,  and  be  shot." 

Tear  down  the  barbarous  custom  houses  and  let  the  peo- 
ple trade  like  Christians — or  intelligent  Pagans — and  this  whole 
fish  controversy  will  be  settled  and  Canada  will  be  one  of  the 
United  States  in  less  than  five  yea,rs. 

Because  these  vast  corporations  reach  the  people  more  di- 
rectly and  affect  their  interests  more  immediately,  and  because 
of  an  augmented  power  given  by  the  recognized  necessity  of  their 
existence,  they  have  been  and  a,re  used  as  the  most  powerful  in- 
strumentalities for  centralizing  purposes;  not  only  in  gathering 
to  one  common  center  the  profits  of  industry,  but  in  moulding 
public  opinion  to  the  new  purposes  of  the  avaricious.  "Eternal 
vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty,"  and  every  patriot  should  be  on 
guard. 


—166— 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


TRANSPORTATION   CONTINUED— HOW     THE     SYSTEM      IS 
SHAPING  CIVILIZATION. 

fo  EDUCATED  foreigners,  our  country  is  one  of  mar- 
velous beauty,  full  of  the  most  charming  and  inex- 
plicable contradictions  and  inconsistencies.  They  are 
captivated  with  the  dazzling  splendor  of  Washington; 
pay  knee  homage  to  the  money  kings  of  Wall  street; 
are  astonished  at  the  world's  modern  marvel,  Chi- 
cago; gaze  admiringly  on  the  mammoth  factories, 
shops,  railroads,  stupendous  public  a,nd  private  enter- 
prises, which  are  the  wonders  of  all  the  ages;  and 
with  a  hesitating  perplexity  they  conclude  that  genius 
was  new  crowned  in  America,  with  the  mightiest 
achievements  of  the  human  brain.  Reared  in  a  la,nd  of  slow 
growing  certainties,  they  examine  history,  phenomena,  men  and 
conditions,  from  a  practical  and  elevated  standpoint.  However 
much  they  have  rea,d  they  are  astonished  at  our  boundless  re- 
sources and  the  rapidity  with  which  we  have  utilized  the  great 
forces  of  nature.  To  them,  we  are  a  curious  people,  our  conduct 
is  a  riddle,  sealed  from  solving,  but  tempting  in  its  seeming  sim- 
plicity. In  Europe  they  see  great  fortunes,  but  they  are  the 
growth  of  generations,  and  their  possessors,  having  worn  their 
ease  so  long  a.nd  gracefully,  have  become  dignified,  retiring,  con- 
servative gentlemen.  In  America  they  see  more  stupendous  for- 
tunes than  ever  blessed  or  cursed  a  European  monarchy,  spring 
into  existence  in  a  single  age.  They  see  a  ragged  boy,  whipped 
into  a  devious  path  by  biting  necessity,  grasp  a  kingly  fortune 
and  kingly  power,  before  gray  hairs  admonish  him  that  the  love 
which  fortune  bribes  is  the  honor  which  virtue  abhors.  They 
are  surprised  that  cunning  has  such  power,  where  education  and 
shrewdness  are  the  rule,  and  that  idleness  gathers  so  much  ofl 


—167— 

the  weaun  where  intelligent  industry  struggles  without  reward. 

There  is  nothing,  however,  so  puzzles  the  stranger,  as  the 
seeming  tendency  of  our  people  to  gather  or  Accumulate  in  the 
great  cities.  In  other  lands  the  wealthy  enjoy  the  quiet  rural 
homes,  and  notwithstanding  the  despotic  landlord  system,  the 
country  does  not  lose  its  inhabitants  faster  than  they  are  driven 
from  the  soil,  that  the  lord's  pasture,  farm  or  pa,rk  may  be  en- 
larged. 

In  the  United  States,  the  rural  districts,  in  all  directions  and 
in  all  the  states,  are  being  drained  of  their  best  blood,  most 
promising  talent,  and  the  great  central  cities  are  being  swelled 
to  marvelous  proportions,  and  with  a  rapidity  which  may  justly 
excite  our  wonder  if  not  our  alarm. 

Less  than  one  hundred  years  ago,  but  three  and  a  hajf  of 
every  hundred  of  the  population  in  the  United  States  lived  in 
cities;  while  now  about  twenty-four,  or  nearly  one-fourth,  live 
in  the  cities,  making  a  change  from  one-thirtieth  to  one-fourth 
in  less  than  a  century.  The  modern  man  seems  to  prefer  the  as- 
socia,tion  of  his  fellows  to  a  communion  with  God  and  nature. 
Notwithstanding — until  recently — our  abundant  and  cheap  vacant 
land,  the  cities  are  increasing  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  rural 
districts,  and  the  few  great  centers  are  gathering  from  both  coun- 
try a,nd  town.  Though  the  population  is  rapidly  increasing  and 
there  are  new  and  strained  demands  for  homes,  farms  and  prop- 
erty in  small  towns,  even  in  the  growing  West,  are  largely  de- 
preciating in  value.  The  few  great  cities  which  are  the  recep- 
tacles of  the  shifting,  moving  hordes,  present  a  strange  specta.de. 
There  are  found  the  most  fabulous  fortunes  and  the  most  abject 
poverty;  with  mad  activity  and  stupid  indolence,  jostling  each 
other  in  the  busy  streets.  There  is  rich  idleness  and  starving 
industry,  the  haughty  millionaire  and  the  paje  beggar.  There  are 
swarms  of  fortune-seekers,  adventurers,  thieves  and  cut-throats. 
The  nervous,  ambitions,  discontented  men  of  real  ability,  driven 
into  bankruptcy  in  other  localities,  and  who  seek  for  some  hoped- 
for,  but  long  deferred,  opportunity  to  regain  a  fortune  in  a 
single  deaj,  form  a  prominent  feature  in  this  motley  mass.  The 
idle  and  the  vicious,  to  hide  from  the  world,  or  the  officers  of  the 
law,  congregate  in  these  pools,  where  vice  and  impurity  so  closely 
blend  that  publicity  is  the  greatest  secrecy,  and  mingling  with 


—168— 

the  mob  the  best  safety  from  detection.  All  who  seek  labor  or  a 
means  to  escape  from  it;  those  who  court  care  and  activity,  or  to 
drown  one  and  shun  the  other,  float  to  the  city.  The  "unlucky" 
grain  or  stock  dealer  of  the  country,  having  nabbed  the  luring 
bait  on  "option,"  loses  all  and  rushes  to  the  great  city  to  retrieve 
a  fortune  where  he  lost  it.  The  country  merchant,  having  for  a 
time  prospered,  sees  a  rival  make  a,  "pile"  by  games  of  chance, 
stakes  his  means,  loses,  and  being  "broken,"  rushes  to  the  great 
city,  where  all  play  and  few  win.  The  bright,  active  young  man 
of  the  farm,  seeing  his  calling  unprofitable  and  dishonored,  leaves 
the  "old  folks"  and  casts  his  fortunes  in  the  busy,  bustling,  wicked 
city. 

Not  only  are  the  rural  districts  rotting  by  this  frightful  ex- 
odus, but  thousands  of  smaller  towns  are  shabby,  retrograding 
and  decaying.  They  see  strikes,  and  riots,  a^id  seditious  plots  in 
these  seething  centers,  as  deep  and  dangerous  as  disturb  the 
thrones  of  the  Old  World,  and  hear  ominous  whisperings 
among  the  lowly,  struggling,  laboring  and  idle,  vicious  and  vir- 
tuous millions,  against  the  oppression  of  moneyed  despotism. 
They  are  greatly  puzzled  that  people  congregate  in  the  dangerous 
centers  from  so  beautiful  and  sparsely  settled  a  country  where 
there  appears  to  be  such  promising  opportunities.  In  the  Ameri- 
can nature  there  is  a  seeming  paradox.  While  we  surrender  '-he 
seas  and  the  daring  enterprises  of  the  world's  commerce  ana  in- 
dustriously cultivate  the  arts  of  peace,  our  critics  are  forced  to 
the  belief  that  our  people  are  ambitious,  discontented,  brilliant 
adventurers,  who  "make  or  break"  in  a  week,  consume  a  century 
in  forty  years,  and  prefer  to  live  one  night  in  brilliant  despair 
to  a  year  in  quiet  peace  a»nd  plenty.  They  conclude  that  we  are, 
as  a  race,  in  a  transitionary  state,  that  we  have  not  assumed  a 
national  type  a,nd,  therefore,  there  is  no  stability  or  harmony  in 
our  traits  or  sentiments;  they  conclude,  too,  that  a  national  type 
must  evolve  from  an  amalgamation  of  all  the  European  charac- 
teristics, tha,t  from  the  heterogeneous  must  come  the  homogen- 
eous; that  nature  in  hurrying  that  process  has  developed  these 
peculiar  phrases  in  our  society.  They  claim  that  the  natural  ten- 
dency to  desert  the  rural  districts  and  the  small  towns,  and  con- 
gregate in  the  great  cities,  is  so  strong  a^s  to  almost  become  a 
universal  desire;  and  reasoning  from  such  a  standpoint,  they  are 


—169— 

3ry  doubtful  about  the  stability  of  our  government.  They  see 
in  these  turbulent  centers,  conspiracies  and  riots,  assassinations, 
seditions  and  bomb-shells;  and  return  to  monarchy  with  greater 
loyalty  and  a  deeper  feeling  of  security.  Now  our  reviewers  are 
correct,  except  in  the  causes  to  which  they  assign  this  strange  con- 
dition. They  see  us  as  we  are  today,  but  have  not  examined  the 
causes  which  led  to  present  results. 

I  assert,  tha,t  the  quiet,  insinuating  influence  which  is  mould- 
ing taste,  interest,  desire  and  sentiment;  changing  our  civiliza- 
tion in  every  form  and  feature,  eradicating  our  traditionary  love 
for  the  domestic  hearth  and  the  rural  home;  drawing  people  from 
the  happy  village  and  thriving  town,  is  the  all-powerful,  isse- 
sistible  transportation  lines.  Type  and  character  assume  an  ex- 
act harmony  with  the  pursuits  of  a  people.  Transportation  is  a 
part  of  the  cost  of  production,  and  in  so  extensive  a,  country  as 
ours,  with  products  so  cheap  and  cumbrous,  and  distance  of  ship- 
ment so  great,  it  becomes  a  very  important  part  of  such  cost.  If 
pursuits  develop  type  and  character,  the  peculiar  phases  of  any 
pursuit  of  greatest  complexity  will  leave  the  strongest  impress 
upon  the  society  being  operated  upon.  Then,  too,  the  influence 
of  the  active,  the  organized,  the  busy,  is  more  immediately  felt 
than  that  of  the  slow,  or  more  conservative.  The  agriculturist 
and  the  villager,  mingling  less  with  the  world,  with  little  union 
of  feeling  or  action,  constitute  the  conservative  masses;  while 
the  active,  traveling,  trading  transporters,  etc.,  give  a  tone  to  the 
whole  of  society  corresponding  to  the  importance  of  the  pursuits 
and  the  numbers,  wealth,  activity,  and  intelligence  of  the  op- 
erators. The  whole  power  of  such  organization  can  be  thrown 
in  one  or  any  direction,  and  the  whole  social  force  utilized. 

If  the  subject  of  transportation  is  not  on  the  minds  of  more 
people,  than  other  questions,  it  is  more  intense  on  the  fewer! 
minds,  and  its  influence  more  active  and  aggressive.  In  the  evo- 
lution of  thought,  then,  these  active  forces  leave  an  impress  in 
proportion  to  their  energies.  Thus  the  subject  uppermost  in  the 
common  mind,  of  course,  has  a  bearing  at  every  fireside,  so  that 
railroad,  transportation,  corporation,  etc.,  are  familiar  topics 
among  all  classes,  and  have  become  a  part  of  the  public  thought 
and  action. 

Our  railroad  system  has  been  built  largely  by  grants,  gifts, 


—170— 

private  donations  and  subsidies,  from  corporations  and  munici- 
palities. Their  powers  are  co-extensive  with  the  necessities  of 
society  which  patronize  them.  They  have  used  that  power  as 
monarchs  do — for  self-aggrandizement.  In  politics,  they  have  ex- 
erted an  influence,  proportioned  to  their  cunning  and  their  cap- 
ital. They  have  owned  the  powers  behind  congress — the  lobby — 
they  ha,ve  suborned  courts,  bribed  politicians,  and  purchased  or 
forced  voters  to  support  parties  whose  leaders  they  own.  They 
have  opened  all  channels  of  trade  to  a  few  great  cities,  in  which 
stockholders  or  officers  are  interested;  they  have  crushed  small 
towns  by  unjust  and  unjustifiable  discriminations;  they  have 
fa,vored  cities  of  their  own  building  and  forced  their  growth  by 
a  course  of  vicious  rebates.  They  have  given  special  favors  to  a 
few  places  at  long  intervals,  that  a  great  trade  on  long  hauls 
might  be  enjoyed,  and  to  enrich  the  investors  of  such  cities  who 
ha,ve  aided  in  these  schemes.  By  a  system  of  poolings  in  earn- 
ings, they  could  ruin  or  build  a  city  wherever  they  saw  fit.  In 
this  manner  they  have  crushed  smaller  midway  towns,  driven 
active  business  men  to  larger  cities  or  bankruptcy,  while  the  in- 
dustries along  the  route  have  been  changed  or  paralyzed. 

By  special  favors,  in  the  interest  of  heavy  shippers,  thou- 
sands of  small  dealers  have  been  pushed  from  business,  giving 
the  rich,  or  extensive  operators  a  greater  advantage,  and  the 
people  a  smaller  number  of  buyers  for  their  products.  These  dis- 
appointed, or  failing  business  men,  have  gone  to  the  great  centers, 
almost  in  despair,  and  cast  their  lots  in  the  great  ocean  of  strife 
and  contention.  Mines  a,nd  factories,  too,  that  use  but  a  few 
cars,  can  rarely  get  them,  even  at  greater  prices,  so  that  these  in- 
dustries are  closed,  men  thrown  out  of  employment  to  seek  for 
a  livelihood  in  greater  centers,  giving  the  great  operators  a 
stronger  monopoly,  and  forcing  men  into  a  fiercer  competition, 
widening  the  gaj)  between  the  rich  and  the  poor.  With  no  ex- 
cuse but  selfish  greed,  these  transport  lines  have  levied  so  heavy 
a  freight  charge  on  the  products  of  the  West,  reducing  the  profits 
to  so  small  a  margin  that  the  young,  active  and  ambitious  farmer 
hastens  to  join  the  great  a,rmy  of  homeless  adventurers  who  "take 
the  road"  or  rush  to  the  great  centers  to  watch  a  chance  for  sud- 
den fortune.  There  is  no  compromise  on  a  division  of  profits,  on 
production,  but  the  monopolists  leave  just  sufficient  to  keep  the 


m 

! 


—171— 

ork  of  production  going.  While  the  farms,  mines  and  other 
industries  strive  to  live,  the  export  lines  that  could  not  exist  a 
moment  without  them,  heap  up  the  millions  and  declare  high  divi- 

;3nds  on  100%  of  "watered  stock."  The  class  who  keep  the  lines 
inning  are  gradually  succumbing  to  overwhelming  hardships, 
ith  cheap  furniture,  shabby  clothes,  wives  and  children  poorly 
^rovided  for;  and  while  the  very  lives  of  all  old  enough  to  work 
are  being  coined  into  cash,  for  ta,x  and  interest,  the  great  railroad 
kings  and  their  opulent  companions  speed  through  the  blighted 
land  at  fifty  miles  an  hour,  in  princely  palace  cars,  and  as  they 
sip  their  wine  from  their  elegant  diner,  they  look  through  the 
pane  and  behold  their  patient  slaves  toiling  for  their  good.  These 
sights  of  luxurious  idleness,  fan  the  discontent  of  the  spiriteu 
young  man  who  tills  the  fields;  it  makes  his  lot  seem  dull,  profit- 
less and  dreary,  and  as  he  watches  the  vanishing  train,  he  breaks 
the  chain  that  ha,s  bound  him  to  the  soil,  and  resolves  to  cast 
his  fortune  with  the  great  herd  of  adventurers  in  a  different  field 
f  strife.  The  fabulous  fortunes  so  rapidly  acquired,  the  honor 
hat  riches  bring,  the  haughty  airs  of  moneyed  insolence,  all  con- 
spire to  fire  the  soul  with  a  passion  of  ruinous  discontent.  This 
restless  feeling,  this  longing  to  try  a  ga,me  in  the  bustling  world, 
tins  insane  love  for  the  dazzling  splendor  of  higher  life,  permeates 
and  fashions  every  grade  and  circle  of  society,  from  the  palace 
to  the  hovel.  As  all  the  little  boys  ape  the  clown  and  tell  his 
jokes,  so  thousands  of  older  boys  would  sacrifice  love,  virtue  ajid 
manhood  to  ape  Gould  or  Vanderbilt.  For  every  man  who  ever 
made  a  million  by  craft,  ten  thousand  have  perished  in  misery, 
because  lured  into  an  attempt  to  imitate  the  example.  The  influ- 
ence of  these  princely  transport  monopolies  is  more  dangerous  to 
public  morals  and  private  contentment,  than  any  other,  because 
they  pass  every  man's  door  and  bring  to  his  mind  the  contract 
between  crafty  idleness  and  honest  industry. 

Of  all  devices  entering  into  the  schemes  of  the  cunning  to 
centralize  all  power  and  wealth,  to  wipe  out  the  great  middle 
class,  to  monopolize  the  land  and  trade,  to  reduce  the  farmers  to 
a  condition  of  tenantry  and  finally  to  abolish  constitutional  lim- 
itations, subvert  liberty  and  erect  on  the  ruins  of  the  republic,  an 
aristocracy  or  monarchy,  none  have  been  more  potent  than  the 


—172— 

despotic  exercise  of  the  powers  which  wealth  and  organization 
give  these  great  transportation  corporations. 

It  is  this  influence  which  is  changing  the  face  of  our  civiliza- 
tion, blighting  the  ruraj  districts,  debauching  the  public  morals 
and  building  great  festering,  discontented  and  seditious  cities, 
where  hate  and  treason  will  find  so  rich  a  soil,  that  bombs  and 
bayonets  will  grow  in  every  basement  and  dingy  tenement  house, 
and  despair  will  arouse  and  rend  the  nation,  or  lazily  sink  into 
helpless  obedience  and  ask  a  "stronger  government,"  that  mis- 
erable life  may  be  more  secure. 


—173— 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  DEMANDS  OF  THE  HOUR. 

HAVE  briefly  outlined  the  paths  by  which  monopoly 
has  traveled  and  established  the  limits  of  its  domin- 
ion, which  are  co-equa,l  with  the  limits  of  the  gn.at 
republic,  and  from  this  point  in  our  meanderings,  let 
us  calmly  contemplate  the  present  and  the  future,  ard 
see  how  much  of  liberty  of  action  and  opportunity 
for  life  is  left  for  this  and  the  coming  generations. 
We  are  confronted  by  the  gravest  questions  that  ever 
demanded  solution  by  any  a,ge.  Our  generation  has 
surrendered  more  of  its  inherent  rights,  more  of  the 
advantages  of  progress,  more  tha,t  sustains  pride  of 
race  and  national  character,  than  was  ever  wrenched  from  any 
people  by  the  strong  ha,nd  of  armed  power;  and  if  he  would 
rescue  a  portion  of  wha,t  has  been  lost,  or  save  a  portion  that 
remains,  brave,  prompt  and  energetic  action  is  required.  We 
have  reached  a  crisis  in  the  progressive  development  of  the  world, 
and  apathy  means  ruin.  The  successful  development  of  America, 
las  given  Europe  her  present  civilization.  Commerce,  navigation 
and  statecraft  have  changed  and  Advanced.  Population  and  in- 
telligence among  the  masses,  has  leaped  forward  a  thousand  years 
in  less  tha,n  a  century.  The  bold,  ambitious,  adventurous  spirits 
have  aroused  the  effete  monarchies  of  the  Old  World.  From  the 
palace  to  the  hovel  the  people  of  Christendom  have  better  clothes 
and  better  food.  A  great  stimulus  has  been  given  to  industry,  to 
thought,  to  genius.  But  for  the  bulky  products  of  the  American 
farm,  there  would  yet  have  been  no  great  railroad  or  steamship 
lines;  a,nd  other  improvements  that  today  are  necessities,  would 
have  slept  in  the  secret  closet  of  nature  for  ages  to  come.  Great 
room,  great  opportunities  and  great  profits  drew  from  all  Europe 
her  industry,  patience,  energy,  muscle  and  brain,  and  leaving 


—174- 

places  to  be  filled,  awoke  a,n  activity  in  these  far-off  lands,  never 
felt  since  the  breaking  up  of  the  empire  of  Charlemagne. 

Higher  wages  fired  the  soul  of  genius,  and  the  whole  power 
of  the  human  intellect  has  been  exerted  in  advancing  the  ulitarian 
age.  Labor-saving  machinery  has  revolutionized  the  industry  of 
the  world.  Cheaper  and  better  food  and  clothing  have  greatly 
lengthened  the  average  life  and  increased  the  number  of  births, 
thus  giving  a  new  impetus  to  increase  of  population.  Millions 
of  hardy — a,s  well  as  poor  and  worthless — have  come  to  America, 
and  cheapening  the  food  and  bread  supply  of  the  Old  World  have 
accelerated  the  population  of  those  countries  that  more  might 
follow.  American  influence,  through  her  products,  is  unifying 
the  human  race,  and  soon  it  may  truly  be  said  that  a,ll  men  are 
cf  one  kindred  and  one  blood.  We  send  cheap  bread  to  Europe, 
accelerate  population,  so  that  a  new  pressure  empties  the  surplus 
on  our  own  shores,  the  fruit  of  our  own  peculiar  sowing.  Then 
America,  that  has  been  over-run  by  Europeans,  has  vastly  in- 
creased the  procreative  powers  of  Europe,  and  we  have  given 
room  for  the  offspring  of  these  complex  forces. 

There  is  an  iron  chain  of  destiny,  stronger  than  kings  or/ 
congresses,  that  moulds  and  shapes  the  thoughts  and  actions  Ot 
the  world;  binding  race  with  race,  nation  with  nation,  the  past 
with  the  future  and  cause  with  event,  so  intimately  that  every 
smile  of  joy  or  groan  of  misery  leaves  forever  its  impress  upon 
the  face  of  civilization. 

Prom  every  land  and  clime  have  come  the  bold,  fierce,  sturdy, 
adventurous  spirits,  who  were  strong  enough  to  turn  their  backs 
on  home  a,nd  fatherland,  to  seek  fortunes  in  a  strange  land,  and 
here  with  this  frightful  heterogeneous  mass  must  the  battle  of 
the  future  be  fought.  This  is  the  last  refuge;  we  cannot,  if  we 
would,  escape  the  conflict.  Five  thousand  years  ago  our  rude 
ancestors,  being  pressed  by  population,  by  discontent,  or  an  in- 
quisitive desire  for  betterment  or  adventure,  started  on  their 
great  journey  West.  When  pasture  for  herds  becajne  scarce,  or 
more  powerful  clans  invaded  the  domain,  there  was  plenty  of 
room  toward  the  setting  sun.  The  great  burning  god  of  the  an- 
cients, slowly  creeping  down  among  the  beautiful  western  slopes, 
throwing  lengthened  shadows  back  toward  their  primitive  homes, 
seemed  to  invite  them  to  a  further  knowledge  of  the  unseen  West. 


—175— 

Slowly  as  the  generations  came  was  the  land  of  the  West  over- 
run and  held.  Persia,  Asia  Minor,  the  Golden  Horn,  Greece  and 
Rome  and  Europe  ajid  Britannia,  and  finally,  with  a  little  mod- 
ern pressure,  our  forefathers  cast  themselves  into'  frail  barques, 
and  turning  their  cold  prows  to  3,000  miles  of  waves,  left  a  gulf 
between  wild  liberty  and  old  monarchy  and  despotism.  But  the 
journey  West  was  not  completed.  Fertile  spots  and  better  game 
were  sought  by  the  new  comer,  and  the  mountain  chains,  the  deep 
forests,  the  broad  valleys  and  great  rivers  were  tunneled,  sub- 
dued, crossed  and  bridged;  the  desert  traversed,  the  western  jour- 
ney pursued,  until  the  pale-faced,  bearded  Europe- American  gazed 
across  the  bosom  of  the  placid  Pacific,  toward  the  cradle  of  his 
earlier  civilization.  Then  at  the  "Golden  Gate"  he  met  the  little 
diamond-eyed  Mongols,  from  whom  his  Aryan  ancestors  separ- 
ated on  the  plains  of  Asia,  thousands  of  years  ago — the  time,  the 
changes  and  the  trials,  leaving  their  impress  on  his  magnified 
form,  features  and  character. 

Humanity  spa,ns  the  globe.  There  is  no  more  West;  no  more 
"new  country;"  no  more  worlds  to  over-run  and  conquer;  so  we 
must  face  all  the  difficulties  from  which  every  other  "generation 
sought  refuge  in  flight.  There  was  a  grave  argument  among  the 
adventurous  Greeks,  in  the  army  of  Themistocles,  as  to  whether 
it  would  not  be  safer,  better  and  wiser  to  Abandon  Athens  and 
sail  to  another  land  and  inhabit  it,  than  to  undertake  the  defense 
of  their  country  against  the  force  of  barbarous  Persia.  So  it  has 
been  in  a,ll  the  progressive  development  of  the  world.  But  for 
us,  there  is  no  escape. 

The  question  demanding  solution  is,  whether  God's  footstool 
is  sufficient  for  His  children,  and  if  so,  whether  all  men  have 
rights  to  grapple  with  the  difficulties  of  nature,  to  procure  a  live- 
lihood, or  whether  the  God  of  heaven  has  crowned  a  few  of  His 
idle  sons,  despots  of  the  world,  by  giving  them  the  keys  of  na- 
ture's treasure-house,  and  thus  a  monopoly  of  His  exhaustless 
bounties.  The  contest  may  be  long  and  bitter.  The  armies  of 
progress  are  marshaled.  We  are  on  the  outputs,  and  must  open 
the  battle.  It  has  opened  as  a  wa,r  of  ideas — an  intelleetaul  con- 
test. If  brain  is  stronger  than  selfishness,  patriotism  than  greed, 
and  humanity  finds  a  responsive  chord  in  the  bosom  of  the  ruling 
the  campaign  will  close  in  the  realm  of  reason  and  the 


class,  the  c; 


—176— 

higher  law  of  right  prevail.  But  if  overbearing  greed  and  selfish- 
ness is  stronger,  if  haughty  pride  claims  uncompromising  su- 
premacy, then  the  savage,  which  still  lurks  in  civilization,  will 
shake  off  its  Christian  meekness  and  use  the  only  force  known 
to  its  nature. 

By  the  year  1900  there  will  be  one  hundred  million  people 
in  the  United  States,  and  many  boast  that  in  fifty  years  there  will 
be  two  hundred  millions.  Strange  boast,  for  could  one  but  see 
the  truth,  none  but  a  fiend  could  rejoice  at  the  spectacle.  But  it 
is  claimed  tha,t  our  country  can  support  a  population  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  or  three  hundred  millions.  How  cheerfully  we 
grant  that  it  is  capable  of  sustaining  more  than  twice  or  thrice 
that  number;  and  but  a  few  years  more  will  see  the  arable 
portions  of  America,  excluding  the  desert  a,nd  mountain  waste,  as 
densely  populated  as  any  portion  of  Europe;  but  God  pity  them, 
for  seven-eighths  will  be  slaves,  unless  our  policy  is  changed. 
With  America's  fertile  soil,  inexhaustible  mines,  forests  and  all 
natural  wealth,  it  has  almost  infinite  capacity  for  the  support  of 
people;  but  consider,  the  land,  the  mines,  the  natural  wealth — 
and  most  of  the  artificial — is  in  the  hands  of  but  few.  A  small 
number  monopolize  the  opportunities,  and  a,ll  who  come  must  live 
by  the  grace  of  a  moneyed  or  landed  aristocracy.  The  more  that 
come,  the  sharper  the  competition,  and  the  more  powerful  will 
be  those  who  own  the  raw  material.  z 

A  family  groaning  in  a  hovel  would  starve  just  as  quietly 
and  modestly,  if  shadowed  by  a  great  warehouse,  filled  with  bread 
material,  as  under  the  branches  of  an  oak,  if  excluded  from  the 
right  a,nd  power  to  purchase  a  portion,  with  something  they  had 
to  spare.  The  land  and  the  wealth  is  "owned"  by  a  few,  and  those 
who  come  now,  come  to  a  "world  already  occupied,"  to  a  "feast 
with  no  vacant  seat;"  and  their  coming  only  a,dds  misery  to  the 
"early  arrivals"  and  great  power  to  the  monopolists.  It  is  not  a 
question  as  to  the  capacity  of  a  country  to  sustain  the  population, 
but  as  to  the  power  of  the  population  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
supply.  There  is  no  question  but  that  Scully's  forty  thousand 
acre  farm  would  support  ten  thousand  people  in  comfort  and  a.f- 
fluence,  but  if  these  ten  thousand  are  compelled  to  accept  the 
terms  of  this  autocrat,  slavery  would  be  a  happier  condition. 
These  are  the  dangers  that  darken  the  hopes  of  America. 


—177— 

falthus  is  dead.  His  works  are  unread  and  his  "philosophy"  has 
been  exploded  hy  the  best  writers  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but 
his  doctrines  prevail  today.  We  are  Malthusian  in  our  national 
practice.  Practically,  there  is  no  shadow  of  difference  between  a 
scarcity  of  means  of  subsistence  and  a  monopoly  of  the  means  of 
subsistence,  and  when  people  suffer  from  either  cause,  the  doc- 
trine of  Malthus  is  enforced.  America  groans  under  tn~e~  loads 
of  plenty,  yet  millions  stand,  pale-faced  and  starving,  while  gat- 
ing on  the  sumptuous  feast  and  gorgeous  splendor  of  the  idle  de- 
bauchees, and  hearing  the  blare  of  bands  and  choruses  of  trained 
throats  tha,t  sing  praise  to  the  princely  host — mingled  with  the 
groans  of  expiring  loved  ones. 

Already  we  see  the  choking  influence  against  increase  of  pop- 
ulation, as  suggested  by  Malthus,  being  exerted.  Homes  are  hard 
to  get,  the  means  for  procuring  clothing,  food  and  comforts — 
not  to  say  luxuries — demanded  by  this  fastidious  age,  is  most 
precarious,  and  marriages  are  postponed  or  deferred  altogether. 
The  home  and  family  is  the  natural  condition  of  civilized  beings, 
yet  what  an  army  of  homeless,  marriageable  men  a,nd  women 
there  are  in  this  country  today.  How  degrading,  how  demoraliz- 
ing, is  this  unnatural  condition.  Thousands  of  noble  men  grow 
sad  at  the  word  "home,"  and  long  for  the  endearing  smile  of  wife, 
the  kiss  and  prattle  of  dimpled  babes,  but  cruel  circumstances 
forbid  such  relations.  A  false  pride,  reared  by  the  influence  of 
this  false  age,  allows  the  heart  to  break  with  longing — if  indeed 
the  fea,r  of  bringing  others  to  want  does  not  lead  to  the  cruci- 
fixion of  human  desires.  This  is  Malthusian.  Then  dangers  and 
conflicts  have  come,  in  form  of  strikes  and  riots,  to  take  men  from 
the  daily  conflict  for  bread.  This  is  Malthusian.  Then  poverty  and 
misery  come,  and  the  intense  fear  that  drives  a  mother  to  suicide 
or  infanticide.  This  is  Malthusian. 

To  pack  the  population  of  America,  to  sharpen  the  contest 
for  land  and  other  means  for  gaining  a  livelihood,  and  eking  out 
an  existence,  that  the  power  of  monopoly  might  be  more  des- 
potic and  the  class  lines  more  marked,  was  a  part  of  the  great 
centralizing  scheme;  and  upon  what  a  stupendous  scale  the  plans 
have  been  and  are  being  carried  out.  How  unerringly  the  com- 
plex arrangement  has  worked.  How  readily  a  strong  press  has 
sprung  up  to  grasp  the  tempting  bribe.  How  cheerfully  have  the 


—178— 

''great  people's"  representatives  fallen  into  the  cunning  scheme. 
With  what  hellish  glee  ha,s  every  small  politician,  whose  ninth 
rate  ability  so  illy  matched  his  first  rate  ambition,  rushed  to  the 
defense  of  every  cunning  scheme  that  could  be  tacked  to  his 
"party"  banner,  or  made  a  cardinal  principle  of  his  political 
faith. 

It's  enough  to  ma,ke  the  angels  weep  and  the  devils  laugh 
with  glee,  to  see  the  working  and  producing  millions  arrayed  in 
factious  opposition,  each  to  each,  while  the  cunning  few  who 
planned  the  campaign,  coolly  gather  into  their  coffers  the  profits 
of  the  nation's  toil.  The  schemers  knew  the  people's  pride,  their 
prejudice,  their  vajiity,  their  credulity,  and  their  party  loyalty. 
They  knew  that  these  "sovereign  people"  were  so  pleased  with 
the  privilege  of  voting  as  to  believe  the  act  of  casting  a  "free  bal- 
lot" a  performance  so  honorable  and  patriotic  as  to  drive  from 
the  land  every  foe  to  liberty.  They  knew  the  public  would  sub- 
mit to  any  oppression,  if  the  powers  which  the  rulers  exercised, 
were  derived  from  popular  "consent,"  as  expressed  at  the  ballot 
box.  The  ballot  has  become  the  symbol  of  force,  and  the  voter 
having  delegated  his  powers,  seems  flattered  that  they  are  ex- 
ercised with  vigor.  But  this  must  change,  and  when  the  people 
open  their  eyes  to  the  deception  and  fraud  which  have  been  prac- 
ticed upon  them  by  party  leaders,  and  pretended  friends,  there 
will  be  a  social  revolt,  and  if  class  bigotry  stands  in  the  way  of 
progress,  restoration  will  come  through  revolution.  If  the  masses 
will  comprehend  the  situation,  and  act  as  the  gravity  of  the  case 
demands,  prostrate  liberty  will  arise,  Sphinxlike,  from  her  ashes, 
and,  with  a  cheek  unblanched  by  fear,  a  bosom  unagitated  by  a 
sigh,  and  a  hand  unstained  by  crime,  wrench  the  standard  of- 
progress  from  avarice,  greed  and  centralism,  and  lead  on  to  a 
glorious  future  that  will  pale  the  lustre  of  all  the  ages. 


-179- 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CONCLUSION. 


N  a  previous  chapter,  I  charged  that  during  the  dark 
days  of  war,  when  the  public  attention  was  diverted, 
a  gigantic  conspiracy  was  formed  by  a  small  number 
of  wealthy,  ambitious  and   very  intelligent  persons, 
to  possess  themselves  of  every  avenue  to  wealth;  and 
by  a  series  of  organized  monopolies,  appropriate  the 
profits  of  the  nation's  industries;   and.  through     the 
power  of  a  great  wealth  thus  acquired,  subvert  the 
fundamental  principles  of  our  government  and  erect 
an  aristocracy,  as  a  governing  class,  with     all     the 
powers,  dignity  and  splendor  of  a  monarchy,  on  the 
ruins  of  the  republic.     I  have  endeavored  to  sustain  the  indict- 
ment, by  showing  that  all  great  measures  of  recent  legislation 
have  been  shaped  by  this  cunning  class,  and  that  the  tendency 
of  all  such  measures  lead  to  centralism,  cla,ss  aggrandizement  and 
ristocracy,  if  not  to  monarchy.     I  have  endeavored  to  discuss 
e  merits  of  no  measures,  further  than  to  show  their  discrimi- 
nating results  and  their  harmony  with  the  theory  of  conspiracy. 
I  have  made  my  argument  not  as  strongly  or  as  fully  as  patent 
facts  would  justify,  but  as  best  I  could  in  the  space  I  believed  it 
wise  to  occupy,  and  it  now  only  remains  to  sum  up  the  case  and 
leave  it  to  the  great  jury. 

I  have  shown  tha,t  a  few  persons  have  with  comparatively  lit- 
tle cost  to  themselves,  acquired  over  two  hundred  millions  of  acres 
of  land,  or  enough  to  make  six  states  like  Illinois,  Iowa  or  Mis- 
souri, and  sustain  a  population  of  over  fifty  millions  of  people. 
How  this  vast  empire  wa,s  given  by  the  people's  representatives, 
with  no  value  received,  and  that  to  further  strengthen  this  land- 
ed class,  there  was  money  enough  taken  from  the  public  purse  to 
uild  a  double-track  railroad  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco, 


—180— 

and  virtually  given  to  these  wa,rds  of  the  law,  to  enable  them  to 
build  themselves  highways  on  their  own  dominions.  How,  by 
this  gigantic  monopoly  of  lands  and  mines  and  minerals  and  for- 
ests, the  masses  are  reduced  to  dependence  and  forced  to  com- 
promise with  this  small  class  for  their  future  homes,  for  the  op- 
portunities to  earn  a,  livelihood,  and  even  for  the  daily  wages 
upon  which  to  live.  We  see  as  a  result,  the  basis  of  the  most 
stupendous  landlord  system  on  earth;  the  more  oppressive,  as 
this  is  man's  last  refuge  from  the  pressure  of  over-population. 
With  no  correlative  force,  the  land  monopoly  alone  is  strong 
enough  to  enslave  the  great  ma,ss  of  the  future  population  of  the 
country. 

We  have  seen  how  cunning  managed  the  finances,  and  mo- 
nopolized money  as  per  arrangement.  How  the  bankers,  aided 
by  the  wise  counsel  of  great  financiers  of  England,  like  Seyd  a,nd 
Hazzard,  dictated  the  financial  policy  of  the  government,  and 
finally  monopolized  the  whole  fiscal  department.  We  have  seen 
how  they  "came  to  the  country's  rescue,"  by  loaning  their  credit; 
how  they  permitted  the  government  to  issue  a  prescribed  Amount 
of  greenbacks;  how  they  provided  for  the  issue  of  bonds;  pro- 
cured the  National  Banking  Act;  had  the  bonds  purposely  de- 
preciated, that  they  might  buy  them  cheap,  as  collateral  on  which 
the  government  was  to  loan  money  to  them  at  1%;  how,  in  order 
to  secure  a  perfect  monopoly  of  money,  they  had  the  State 
banks  taxed  to  death,  a,nd  to  increase  that  power,  had  the  cir- 
culating medium  contracted  by  a  wholesale  withdrawal  and  de- 
struction of  the  currency,  and  finally  how  the  government,  though 
it  issued  over  six  hundred  million  more  currency  during  the  four 
years,  than  enough  to  pay  every  cent  of  expense  of  the  war — 
above  taxation — it  emerged  from  the  war  with  a  debt  of  three 
billions  of  dollars.  We  have  seen  that  the  whole  bonded  debt 
was  but  a  gigantic  fraud,  with  not  one  excuse  for  its  existence,  and 
that  the  six  billions  of  dollars  which  the  people  will  have  paid 
before  the  debt  was  extinguished,  was  the  most  colossal  robbery 
ever  perpetrated  on  earth.  It  was  a  despot's  tribute,  levied  on 
the  people  of  at  least  one-eighth  of  the  entire  vajue  of  the  tangi- 
ble property  in  the  United  States.  This  gigantic  monopoly  gave 
a  few  bankers  in  Wall  street  the  power  to  bring  every  industry 
in  the  country  to  its  knees  in  a  week. 


—181— 

We  have  seen  the  monopoly  of  trade  so  strong,  through  pro- 
tective laws,  which  saved  manufacturers  from  competition,  a^id 
enabled  a  few  persons  with  power  to  combine  and  pool,  to  erect 
great  industries,  crush  small  ones  or  private  enterprises,  and  es- 
tablish arbitrary  prices  on  all  the  necessities  of  life.  We  see  the 
power  so  grea,t  that  even  friends  to  the  policy  confessed  that 
protection  has  cost  the  people  one  dollar  and  forty  cents  a 
month,  per  capita,  or  an  aggregate  of  eight  hundred  million  dol- 
lars annually.  We  have  seen  that  this  eight  hundred  million  dol- 
lars, Annual  tribute,  equals  about  8%  on  all  the  real  tangibly 
property  or  goods  of  the  nation,  aside  from  land  values,  and  this 
comes,  as  all  taxes  and  all  wealth  do,  from  industry. 

Then  we  find  in  summing  up,  that  the  land,  money  and  trade, 
are  controlled  by  the  most  irresistible  monopolies  that  ever  ex- 
isted, and  that  every  industry  in  the  country  is  absolutely  and 
despotically  controlled  by  an  organized  few. 

Of  course,  the  defenders  of  this  policy  will  pooh  at,  and  ridi- 
cule the  idea  of  a,  conspiracy,  but  can  they  deny  the  results  of 
recent  legislation?  Can  they  deny  the  existence  of  these  mo-i 
nopolies  or  their  power?  Facts  will  not  down  at  a  sneer.  The 
wealth  is  concentrated,  the  power  freely  exercised,  and  these  are 
dreadful  realities.  Have  not  the  cunning  the  land,  the  mines,  the 
forests,  the  banks,  the  money,  and  a  "corner"  on  the  trade  of 
the  country? 

I  insist  that  such  a  combination  or  multiplicity  of  happy  and 
harmonious  coincidences,  would  be  a  mathematical  impossibility, 
on  any  hypothesis  but  of  a  carefully  laid  plan,  the  execution  of 
which  could  only  be  insured  by  an  organized  corps  of  operators, 
whose  duties  were  as  minutely  specialized  as  are  the  different 
branches,  ranks  and  forces  of  a  grea,t  army. 

But  let  us  see  who  have  the  goods.  Labor  produced  all  wealth, 
and  is,  of  course,  the  rightful  owner  of  all  except  what  it  has 
given  away,  or  left  at  dearth  to  heirs.  What  are  the  facts?  It  is 
claimed,  by  what  seems  to  be  good  authority,  that  the  great  mass 
of  producers,  those  whose  energies  and  sweat  brought  the  wealth 
into  existence,  have  but  little  over  one-fourth  of  it,  wnile  the  non- 
producers  have  over  three-fourths.  Then  idleness  has  property, 
industry  ha,s  poverty.  One  non-producer  has  two  hundred  million 
dollars,  two  million  producers  have  not  a  biscuit  for  tomorrow's 


—182— 

breakfast.  One  thousand  of  the  non-producing  class  control  half 
the  wealth  of  the  nation,  while  ten  millions  of  the  producing 
clatss  have  hardly  a  week's  wages  ahead  of  want. 

Then  we  not  only  find  that  the  cunning  few  have  shaped  leg- 
islation so  as  to  form  great  monopolies,  but  we  trace  the  goods 
to  their  possession.  Now  what  are  the  results  of  the  twenty-five 
years  of  centralizing  legislation,  under  the  management  of  the 
conspirators? 

We  see  cash  deified,  and  labor,  which  produced  it,  despised. 
We  see  rascals  in  robes  and  honesty  in  rags.  We  see  cunning 
applauded,  and  integrity  sneered  at,  or  ignored.  We  see  haughty 
insolence  tyrannize  over  the  creators  of  Americans  progress.  We 
see  idlers  revel  in  gorgeous  palaces,  and  the  pampered  reveler 
grow  sick  with  a  round  of  pleasure;  dainty  viands  nauseate  ftie 
tired  appetite,  while  in  the  shadow  of  the  palace,  in  the  sound 
of  the  sweet  music,  the  brilliant  chandelier  casts  i£s  rays  to  the 
low  hovel  of  industry,  where  sweet  babes  die  of  want,  a  strong 
man  groans  with  agony,  and  the  pale  lips  of  a  withered,  beautiful 
mother,  cries  to  the  mute  heavens  for  bread.  What  is  left  to  the 
poor,  but  the  "stars  and  stripes?"  What  mockery,  even  tha,t,  for 
the  stars  are  for  the  rich,  the  stripes  for  the  poor.  The  lands  and 
the  raw  material,  from  which  all  must  live,  are  monopolized  by 
a  cunning  few,  and  the  great  mass  of  workers  must  compromise 
with  the  sma.ll  class  of  idlers,  for  permission  to  take  from  God's 
bounties  the  necessaries  of  life. 

What  a  mockery  is  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  when 
it  says  all  men  are  "created  equal,"  and  what  a  burlesque  when 
it  says,  "all  men  have  rights  to  life,  liberty  ajid  the  pursuit  of 
happiness,"  when  an  honest,  industrious  man  must  go  in  "pur- 
suit" of  an  idler,  who  is  enjoying  the  wildest  "liberty,"  to  sup- 
plicate for  the  privilege  of  earning  enough  to  preserve  "life"  for 
a  brief  period. 

But  the  apologists  play  injured  innocence,  and  claim  grati- 
tude for  "furnishing  employment"  to  the  poor.  Great  God!  Who 
"furnished"  the  weajth?  Who  "furnished"  the  raw  material? 
God  Almighty  invented  labor  as  a  punishment  and  not  as  a  bless- 
ing. 

Why  do  the  people  deserve  punishment?  If  it  is  praiseworthy 
to  "furnish  employment,"  the  man  who  blows  up  a  city  and  thus 


—183— 

gives  employment  to  ten  thousand  men  in  its  rebuilding,  should 
be  canonized  and  pensioned,  and  even  the  undertaker  should  be 
taxed  for  his  benefit;  while  the  ma,n  who  invents  a  machine, 
which  displaces  a  thousand  men,  should  be  blown'  to  the  moon 
and  his  name  forgotten,  or  hated.  What  idiocy!  It  is  not  more 
"employment"  people  need,  it  is  greater  opportunities  to  employ 
themselves.  It  is  not  more  employment  the  age  requires,  for  we 
hang  the  man  who  blows  up  a  city,  and  makes  a  "demand"  for 
labor,  and  honor  and  love  the  man  who  makes  the  machine,  that 
gives  more  leisure.  If  it  were  a  virtue  to  furnish  employment,  the 
great  machines  should  be  broken  up,  and  the  pleasing  tasks 
turned  over  to  men  and  women. 

Did  genius  tire  over  book,  laboratory,  crucible  and  in  experi- 
mentation, to  lift  the  burden  from  labor's  back,  and  unchain  the 
brain  to  the  realms  of  light,  giving  the  toiling  man  time  for  men- 
tal feasts  and  domestic  pleasures?  or  that  he  might  retire  to  a 
miserable  abode  and  die  of  want?  By  her  sleepless  energies 
genius  has  fanned  the  latent  forces  into  life  and  action,  that  in- 
quiry might  investigate,  beauty  be  adorned  a,nd  labor  light  the 
torch  of  its  mental  being.  If  the  few  appropriate  the  benefit  of 
these  new  forces,  and  rob  humanity  of  their  countless  blessings, 
they  subvert  the  purposes  of  their  infinite  designer,  and  treason, 
revolution  and  bloodshed  will  call  back  barbarism  to  build  a,new. 

Genius  never  lost  an  hour's  repose  to  smooth  the  path  of 
idleness,  but  to  ease  the  burdens  of  toil.  The  divine  idea,  that  un- 
seen, incomprehensible  power,  which  moves  forward  the  world's 
development,  sent  smiling  genius  to  ease  the  burdens  of  toil,  and 
banish  drudgery  and  slavery  from  among  civilized  men.  God 
"furnished  employment,"  by  furnishing  an  inexhautible  supply 
of  raw  material,  for  all  tastes,  needs  and  uses,  a,nd  if  man  must 
of  necessity  depend  upon  another  man  for  employment,  he  has 
been  robbed  of  his  birthright.  If  our  forefathers  were  joking 
about  being  born  equal,  and  being  entitled  to  "equal  rights"  to 
"life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  what  a  huge  farce 
it  was,  to  send  a  million  men  tramping  off  down  South,  to  break 
the  chains  from  slavery,  only  that  a  few  "niggers"  might  pat 
"juber"  at  a  free  lunch  and  join  in  the  chorus  of  "Yankeo 
Doodle." 

We  have  seen  that  the  land  and  all  its  resources,  and  all  in- 


—184— 

dustries  are  controlled  by  monopoly;  now  let's  review  the  results 
of  the  social  and  political  influence,  exercised  by  these,  and  see 
if  the  tendencies  are  not  toward  the  subversion  of  liberty  and  the 
establishment  of  class  rule,  if  not  monarchy.  "When  the  right- 
eous are  in  authority  the  people  rejoice,  but  when  the  wicked 
beareth  rule  the  people  mourn."  Do  the  people  mourn  or  rejoice? 
Is  our  condition  as  a  nation,  one  of  hope  or  fear?  of  pride,  or 
shame?  of  joy,  or  sorrow?  of  peace,  or  dagger?  Idleness  is  con- 
fident, insolent,  despotic,  and  feels  safe  behind  law,  police  and 
militia;  while  industry  is  organizing,  protesting,  threatening, 
starving.  Labor  has  been  degraded  and  turned  empty-handed 
from  the  fortune  it  ha,s  reared,  by  hordes  of  cheap  laborers, 
brpught,  tariff  free,  to  cheapen  the  productions  of  those  whcv 
ha,ve  paid  millions  for  the  passage  of  laws  that  gave  a  mo- 
nopoly on  American  trade,  with  the  promise  to  keep  wages  high. 
The  great  monopolists,  who  own  the  lobby,  and  congress  and  the 
courts  and  legislatures  and  politicians  and  party  leaders,  have 
a  "corner"  on  the  land,  the  mines,  forests  and  all  of  nature's 
bounties;  they  bring  thousands  of  cheap  laborers  from  alTroad, 
erect  great  machinery  at  fabulous  cost,  then  by  combinations  cut 
down  the  "supply"  so  as  to  raise  prices,  turn  their  men  out  to 
starve,  and  then  tell  labor  there  is  no  help  for  it,  as  the  supply 
is  greater  than  the  demand.  What  infamy!  Shut  God's  children 
from  nature's  bounties,  by  appropriating  all  the  opportunities, 
and  then  send  them  away  to  starve,  with  the  insulting  excuse 
that  there  is  no  demand  for  labor.  The  raw  material  in  America 
would  busy  the  whole  human  family  for  a  thousand  yea,rs,  and 
yet  so  few  have  appropriated  it  that  industry  starves  while  the 
bounties  of  lavish  nature  waste.  Then  when  the  employer  turns 
down  wages  to  the  barest  necessities,  with  the  laborer  not  a,  day 
ahead  of  want,  he  buys  or  forces  him  to  vote  for  the  perpetuation 
of  the  policy  that  makes  him  a  hopeless  serf.  Monopoly  reduces 
labor  to  the  last  extremity,  wrings  from  frail  nature,  pride, 
patriotism  and  love  of  honor,  or  worse,  reduces  it  to  Absolute 
want;  then  when  a  vote  is  sold  or  bribed  by  force,  monopoly  cries 
that  popular  government  is  a  farce,  a  failure.  Votes  are  bought 
and  sold,  but  the  voter  is  reduced  to  a  chattel  by  his  hard  condi- 
tion before  he  yields  to  necessity  and  takes  a  bribe.  If  a  wife 
and  babes  cry  for  bread,  and  the  muscles  of  the  protector  will 


—185— 

not  sell,  and  the  vote  will,  the  bargain  is  easily  made.  Agriculture 
is  crushed;  the  farmer's  customers  are  driven  away;  his  products 
are  unsold.  The  profits  of  the  farmer's  toil  ha,ve  been  accumu- 
lated in  the  East,  the  great  fortunes  sent  West,  and  through  "ac- 
commodating" agents  have  been  loaned  to  the  needy  so  exten- 
sively that  a  great  majority  of  the  farms  a,re  mortgaged.  What 
is  the  result?  A  few  men  control  the  price  of  every  commodity, 
and  when  the  proper  time  comes  to  squeeze  out  a  few  thousand 
farmers,  freights  are  raised,  banks  shut  down,  and  the  farmer 
"helps  in  the  coming  election,"  and  is  then  closed  out  and  joins 
the  grea,t  army  of  homeless  men  who  compete  in  the  battle  for 
bread.  Then  we  see  the  same  small  class  who  control  the  land, 
the  raw  material,  the  banks  and  the  trade,  by  fraud,  bribery,  cor- 
ruption and  intimidation,  controlling  elections,  and  through  them 
a,ll  the  machinery  of  government,  from  the  constable  to  the  great 
senate. 

Can  these  things  be  disputed?  Does  not  the  evidence  show 
conspiracy;  or  does  the  yoke  of  monopoly  rest  more  easily  that 
I  have  not  produced  the  original  document  with  the  signatures 
of  the  conspirators? 

Now,  by  what  right  do  a  few  own  the  land  and  its  resources? 
By  what  right  do  a  few  Assume  to  manage  the  financial  affairs 
of  this  country,  or  to  instruct  the  people  with  whom  to  trade;  to 
whom  they  must  sell  and  of  whom  they  must  buy?  No  king  or 
nobles  on  earth  exercise  a  more  despotic  control  over  the  business 
of  a  country  than  a  few  monopolists  do  in  ours.  Then  the  rule 
of  cash  has  come;  the  most  gigantic  fortunes  that  ever  blessed 
or  cursed  the  world,  have  sprung  up  in  our  generation.  The  aris- 
tocracy has  been  reared  with  greater  wealth,  power,  digsfty  and 
splendor  than  any  on  earth.  But  is  there  danger  from  further 
effort  toward  personal  rule?  Let  us  look  along  the  volume  of 
evidence. 

There  are  a  million  a,t  least  of  idle  men,  hungry,  destitute 
and  discontented.  Wages  are  gradually  sinking,  and  cheap  labor 
from  Europe  is  being  brought,  thus  firing  the  flame  of  rage  that 
sits  in  the  company  of  want.  Capita.1  is  offering  greater  rewards 
for  inventions  and  making  every  effort,  by  improving  machinery 
and  securing  cheap,  passive  men  from  Europe,  to  lessen  its  de- 
pendence on  labor.  The  insolence  of  capital  is  pushing  industry 


—186— 

to  a  deeper  discontent  and  a  more  dangerous  condition.  Secret 
spies  and  paid,  treacherous  detectives  have  become  a  part,  of 
every  extensive  enterprise,  the  police  are  a  necessity  in  everjj 
monopolist's  outfit,  a  well-drilled  militia  is  the  willing  tool  of 
these  wards  of  the  law,  and  all  these  forces  are  ready  for  any 
emergency,  from  shooting  women  in  St.  Louis  to  expelling  a  state 
officer  in  Iowa.  We  as  readily  associate  the  idea  of  militia  with 
an  empty  coal  mine,  as  bribery  with  the  election  of  a  United 
States  senator.  Let  the  bosses  push  these  idle,  desperate  men, 
who  are  just  learning  their  power,  by  imitating  the  example  of 
monopolists  in  organizing,  until  riot  and  bloodshed  a,nd  insipient 
wars  for  bread  or  blood  occur  at  frightfully  frequent  intervals, 
and  how  long  before  the  people,  in  despair  for  the  republic,  would 
ask  for  a  stronger  government  to  bring  rest,  safety  and  stability 
to  the  state?  Monopoly  has  moulded  public  opinion  to  the  favor 
of  the  detective  system  a,nd  the  militia  system,  and,  by  its  ap- 
peals to  public  fear,  is  preparing  for  another  step  on  the  line  pro- 
posed to  be  traveled.  To  keep  a  strong  sentiment  in  harmony 
with  its  interests,  it  is  stall-feeding  the  public  appetite  with  re- 
ports of  threatened  dangers,  riots  and  seditions.  All  that  wealth 
can  secure,  monopoly  has,  a,nd  if  it  longs  for  greater  pomp  and 
splendor,  that  can  come  only  through  monarchy. 

Those  who  are  not  aware  that  the  consummation  of  this  last 
act  in  the  great  drama  was  earnestly  discussed  and  favored  by 
many  of  the  "upper  circle"  in  the  winter  of  1876-77,~when  Gen- 
eral Grant,  the  stern  hero  of  many  victories,  and  idol  of  the 
a.rmy,  was  president,  and  the  nation's  peace  depended  upon  the 
patriotism  of  political  victors,  have  lost  a  few  page£  of  valuable 
history.  Had  not  the  majority,  who  had  triumphed  at  the  polls, 
yielded  to  a  compromise  that  disfranchised  them,  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  Grant  would  have  been  declared  dictator,  and  then — well, 
none  can  even  guess  the  finale.  The  people  had  tired  of  war, 
and  to  save  the  recurrence  of  such  horrors,  "all  but  honor"  would 
have  been  sacrificed. 

A  few  months  ago  I  was  walking  with  a  friend  from  Wash- 
ington in  the  gardens  of  Versailles,  France.  We  met  among  the 
fountains,  M.  Gambetta,  then  one  of  the  famous  men  of  Europe. 
The  greeting  was  cordia.1,  as  my  friend  had  the  pleasure  of  his 
acquaintance.  He  spoke  no  English,  but  upon  introduction,  wel- 


—187— 

>med  me  to  France  very  politely.  I  was  dazed  with  surprise  and 
astonishment  at  the  splendor  of  the  scene.  Noticing  my  enthusi- 
asm the  great  Frenchman,  raising  his  awkward  a,rm,  eloquent  in 
its  clumsy  movement,  and  waving  me  to  the  playing  fountain, 
said:  "Brilliant  scene!  We  live  in  the  sunshine  of  the  buried 
empire.  But  France  is  safe.  We  have  resisted  the  ava,lanche. 
Monarchy  is  behind  us."  Turning  to  me,  he  said,  seriously:  "It 
may  be  ahead  of  you.  I  feel  safer  when  the  battle  is  over." 

His  forebodings  came  from  the  American  press,  and  the  tone 
of  moneyed  Americans  who  travel.  I  do  ont  clajm  there  is  im- 
mediate danger  of  American  monarchy,  but  what  is  there  in  a 
name?  Octavius  established  a  despotism  in  the  name  of  republic, 
while  Caesar  failed  to  rea,r  a  mild  monarchy  as  king. 

But  do  we  live  in  a  republic?  or  do  we  really  wear  the  em- 
blem to  flatter  our  pride,  deceive  the  world  and  shield  our  shame? 
Is  it  not  true  that  we  sing  in  the  sunshine  of  the  republic,  and 
toil  in  the  shatdow  of  a  moneyed  despotism? 

Let  the  screws  be  turned  down  a  little  closer  on  labor,  freights 
raised  on  the  farmer,  until  riots  and  lockouts  and  strikes  become 
the  rule,  and  some  daring  leader  will  appear  whose  vaulting  ani- 
bition  despises  the  society  ba,uble,  and  he  will  be  hailed  with  de- 
light. This  must  be  the  final  result,  though  we  nlay  for  many 
years  escape  the  charming  idiocy  of  a  brilliant  monarchy,  and  in 
proud  poverty,  move  along  under  a  republic,  where  cash  and* 
cunning  exercise  despotic  power. 

But  we  have  men  with  royal  powers  ajid  royal  revenues.  What 
do  we  lack?  Royal  splendor. 

Compare  the  "magnificent  establishments" — a  phrase  of 
aristocratic  birth — of  our  "patricians,"  who  began  a  few  years  ago 
poor,  and  have  served  the  country  so  well,  that  on  five  thousand 
dollars  per  year,  they  have  become  millionaires,  with  the  pala,ces 
of  the  "lords"  of  Europe,  and  "republican  simplicity"  is  by  far 
more  gorgeous.  Compare  the  fortunes  and  show  of  the  iron  kings, 
the  lumber  kings  and  the  railroad  kings,  though  they  have  spent 
millions  in  procuring  the  passage  of  la,ws  for  the  benefit  of  labor 
— with  those  of  foreign  nobles,  and  "republican  simplicity" 
eclipses  the  world  in  its  brilliancy. 

Are  not  the  classes,  too,  almost  as  much  divided  as  though 
the  upper  few  wore  childish  titles?  Would  the  "track"  be  more 


—188— 

promptly  cleared  and  passenger  and  freight  traffic  more  readily 
suspended  if  the  "Duke  of  Burlington"  were  to  pass  on  the  "Q," 
than  it  now  is  for  the  pleasure  of  a  "flying  trip  '  of  a  great  mag- 
nate? 

Should  the  "Earl  of  Manhattan"  make  a  tour  of  inspection  of 
the  Wabash  system,  in  his  bronzed  palace  car,  would  the  "fleeced" 
peasantry  on  his  route  gape  more  innocently  to  see  the  cold  face 
of  the  modern  Croesus?  Would  "Lord  Vanderbilt"  dine  more 
sumptuously,  or  stain  his  hajids  with  greater  avarice?  or  the 
"Count  de  Huntington"  demand  greater  loyalty  from  his  mem- 
bers of  the  senate? 

But  a  gauzy  veil,  a  meaningless  name,  hangs  between  the  re- 
public and  a  monarchy;  and  as  the  grea,t  plot  has  thus  far  been 
so  unerringly  carried  out,  without  a  single  check  or  miscarriage, 
and  the  conspirators  enjoy  the  substantial  results  for  which  they 
.  strove,  they  may  willingly  rest  with  their  easily  won  laurels 
until  the  times  a,re  ripe  for  the  final  act.  But  the  preparations 
are  still  being  pressed.  Everything  possible  is  being  done  to  cre- 
ate a  feeling  of  discontent  and  disgust  with  politics  and  public 
affairs  and  to  create  a  feeling  of  pride  and  prejudice  in  favor  of 
the  prevailing  policy. 

We  are  told  that  "public  opinion"  will  tolerate  no  encroa.cn- 
ments.  Nonsense!  Has  not  "public  opinion"  sanctioned  every 
monopoly  in  its  insipiency  and  growth?  But  who  makes  public 
opinion?  The  "upper  crust,"  just  as  they  lead  the  fashions  of 
dress  and  social  etiquette,  and  which  the  poor  imitate  as  best  they 
can.  The  "polite,"  the  educated,  the  eloquent,  the  paid  pulpiteer, 
journalist  or  politician — the  prince  who  thirsts  lor  blood  and  glory 
and  declares  war,  is  backed  by  "public  opinion;"  but  the  prince 
furnished  the  public  opinion  as  a  basis  of  operations.  Monopoly 
is  gradually  preparing  "public  opinion"  for  future  service.  The 
oppressed  and  impoverished  voter  is  bought,  when  the  "sa,cred- 
ness"  of  the  ballot  is  hurled  to  the  land  with  a  sneer.  The  politi- 
cian is  bought  to  furnish  evidence  that  the  people  cannot  choose 
wisely,  or  that  all  are  rascals.  Men  are  praised  for  not  "dabbling" 
with  politics,  and  when  good  men  hold  ajoof  from  public  affairs, 
and  bad  men  come  to  the  front,  "popular  elections"  are  held  up 
as  proof  of  the  lack  of  patriotism,  or  ability  of  the  masses,  for 
self-government. 


—189— 

These  are  means  by  which  the  small  class  hope  to  clothe) 
themselves  with  regal  powers.  But  beside  this  passive  sentiment, 
gradually  yielding  to  the  better  organized  will,  they  have  sown 
the  whole  social  field  with  deep  discontent,  gathered  the  turbu- 
lent into  great  dangerous  business  centers,  organized  a  sedition 
in  every  private  hall,  and  planted  a,  bombshell  in  every  dingy 
tenement. 

We  are  proud  and  vain  and  unwilling  to  see  the  magnitude  of 
the  dangers  that  threaten  us.  But  when  strength  banishes  fear  and 
doubt,  a,nd  hope  soars  above  the  darkening  clouds,  and  laughts  to 
silence  the  warnings  of  the  wise,  danger  may  lurk  uncomfortably 
near.  The  fates  are  jealous;  to  be  proud  and  wise  is  given  only 
to  the  gods. 

The  great  body  of  the  people  are  beginning  to  feel  this  social 
pressure,  and  the  country  is  full  of  eloquent  and  earnest  complaint 
about  "unequal  distribution"  of  profits,  as  the  cause  for  the  pres- 
ent abnormal  condition.  This  is  too  narrow  a  view.  Given  a 
policy  that  would  monopolize  land  and  its  resources,  the  present 
condition  would  be  inevitable;  then,  given  a,  monopoly  of  money 
and  trade,  the  transition  becomes  hurried  and  irresistible.  The 
difficulty  is  not  in  "unequal  distribution"  of  the  profits  of  labor, 
but  in  the  maladjustment  in  the  social  system.  The  difficulties 
arise  from  the  grotesque  folly  of  recognizing  the  omnipotency  of 
cash,  and  the  right  of  any  person  or  corporation  to  the  exclusive 
control  of  as  much  of  the  ea,rth  or  its  native  resources  as  he  or 
i1  can,  by  any  means,  buy  or  steal  from  some  power  claiming  au- 
thority. 

Every  danger  that  threatens  peace  and  security;  every  evil 
that  disturbs  society;  every  sorrow  that  darkens  the  cottage  ajid 
sends  the  shriveled  child  supperless  to  bed,  arises,  not  in  the  un- 
just distribution  of  the  profits  of  labor,  but  in  the  unwise,  unjust 
and  barbarous  maladjustment  in  the  social  arrangement,  or  the 
class  appropriation  of  the  materials  upon  which  all  labor  must 
act,  and  are  the  primary  agencies  of  all  wealth.  Philosophers  and 
economists  may  speculate,  preachers  warn  and  orators  rajit,  but 
the  difficulty  lays  in  the  grotesque  folly  of  ceding  forever,  the 
world,  with  the  soil,  the  mines,  the  minerals,  and  all  of  nature's 
bounties,  to  the  favored  few,  who  control  the  money  and  trade. 

What  more  than  mockery  to  tajk  about  a  "just  distribution" 


—190— 

of  profits  of  labor,  when  a  few — so  combined  as  to  act  as  one — 
"own"  the  earth  with  all  its  stores,  and  99%  of  the  labor — the 
machinery — a,nd  the  whole  industrial  mass  depending  upon  the 
few  for  the  privilege  of  living,  by  performing  the  other  1%  of  the 
labor.  These  are  the  advantages  for  which  organized  cunning 
strove,  and  'til  folly  to  suppose  they  will  relinquisliHhem  without 
a  struggle. 

We  have  reached  a  crisis.  There  can  be  no  temporizing  that 
will  not  fan  the  combustible  materia.1,  now  smouldering,  into 
greater  danger.  We  cannot  stand  still.  "He  who  halts  is  a  cow- 
ard, and  lie  who  doubts  is  damned."  Every  consideration  of  jus- 
tice, safety  and  patriotism  demands  prompt  a,nd  decisive  action. 

We  cannot  retreat,  as  the  bridges  are  burned  and  "Xerxes 
bids  up  forward."  When  a  country  is  ruled  by  cash,  through  the 
instrumentalities  of  hiring  politicians,  who  lie  like  polished  gen- 
tlemen in  good  English,  and  use  truth  with  as  much  pa.rsimony 
as  a  French  courtier,  a  failure,  brilliant  in  its  colossal  catastro- 
phies,  may  not  be  surprising.  We  have  reached  a  crisis,  a  turn- 
ing point  in  our  nationa.1  existence,  and  something  must  be  done, 
or  time  will  snatch  the  laurels  from  our  honest  fame  and  stamp 
our  national  pretensions  as  the  most  sublime  failure.  Labor  points 
to  the  mightiest  achievements  of  the  race;  to  the  grandest  cities, 
most  beautiful  capitols,  schools,  churches  ajid  cathedrals;  to  the 
most  ingenious  and  powerful  industrial  systems;  to  the  net-work 
of  railroads  that  annihilate  distance,  and  telegraphs  and  tele- 
phones that  ignore  space;  to  the  most  beautiful  a.nd  extensive  ag- 
riculture that  ever  brought  joy  to  a  hungry  world,  as  proof  of 
her  worthiness;  and  then  to  its  hopeless  condition,  as  proof  of 
crime.  Now,  labor,  awakened  by  weight  of  oppression,  calls  from 
the  mortgage-crushed  farm;  from  the  bankrupt  business;  from 
the  modest  cotta.ge;  from  the  deserted  shop;  from  the  abandoned 
mine;  from  the  dingy  tenement;  from  the  dismal  hovel;  from  a 
half  million  tramps,  as  destitute,  as  wretched,  as  despised,  as  was 
the  Galilean  and  his  followers;  from  the  pale  lips  of  dying  inno- 
cence, and  from  the  cheap  ha.lls  where  a  million  brave^  organized 
laborers  assemble,  in  a  voice  that  shakes  the  thrones  and  the 
palaces,  that  sends  a  thrill  of  fear  to  the  oppressor's  hearts,  for 
a  reign  of  justice.  There  may  be  differences  of  opinion  as  to 
measures  of  relief,  but  when  the  public  becomes  fairly  aroused 


at  i 

- 


—191— 

to  the  magnitude  of  the  dangers  of  the  situation,  a,  wisdom,  born 
of  experience  and  necessity,  will  suggest  the  proper  remedy.  Mo- 
nopoly may  own  the  land,  and  carry  the  keys  to  the  great  store- 
house of  nature;  may  control  the  circulating  medium,  the  trans- 
portation lines,  a.nd  hold  a  perfect  monopoly  on  the  nation's  trade; 
may  rule  at  will,  senates,  legislatures,  courts,  the  militia,  the  po- 
lice, the  throne  and  its  secretaries,  but  with  the  giant  forces  now 
at  man's  command,  where  lies  safety  but  in  the  contentment  and 
a,lty  of  the  lower  millions? 

A  great  wrong  has  been  perpetrated  and  justice  demands  a 
halt,  while  enlightened  patriotism  demands  an  overhauling  of 
the  books.  Time  never  sanctified  a  crime,  and  though  the  magni- 
tude of  the  offense  may  dazzle  the  giddy,  wrong  does  not  become 
right  by  becoming  colossal.  Don't  tell  me  that  because  the  "titles 
are  confirmed,"  we  have  the  best  money  on  earth,  that  transport 
lines  are  private  property  and  "can't  be  touched,"  and  that  "pro- 

Eion"  is  a  fixed  policy,  and  therefore,  these  questions  are  set- 
;  for,  they  are  infinitely  unsettled. 
The  times  demand  a  change,  and  monopoly  must  stand  up, 
le   "blind  justice"   proclaims  to  the   "genteel  audience,"   her 
own  resurrection;   the  "eternal"  truths  of  the  Immortal  Decla,ra- 
tion  of  Independence;  the  awakening  of  conscience;  the  rehabili- 
tation of  America's  free  citizenship,  and  that  the  Gods  recognize 
no  mansion  and  no  cottage,  but  send  the  sunshine  and  showers 
on  all  a,like,  and  the  smiles  of  spring-time  to  gladden  the  hearts 
of  iove  and  virtue,  whether  compassed  in  broadcloth  or  hemp, 
satin  or  calico. 

When  we  denounced  the  crime  that  monopolized  all  of  na- 
ture's bounties  and  makes  millions  homeless  supplicants,  ther 
special  pleaders,  with  mock  patriotism,  prate  about  "vested 
rights,"  and  the  "sacred  rights  of  property."  Away  with  such 
nonsense! 

I  want  to  see  conscience  enthroned.  I  want  to  see  a  time; 
when  judges  can  be  just,  statesmen  patriotic  and  politicians  hon- 
est. I  want  to  see  impartial  laws,  humane  religions,  and  virtue 
respected,  though  it  wears  no  diamonds.  I  have  heard  enough 
about  the  "sacred  rights  of  property."  I  want  to  hear  about  the 
"sacred  rights"  of  people  to  live,  and  love  and  earn  the  plenty 


—192— 

which  our  age  demands,  and  enjoy  a  home  and  feeling  of  dig- 
nified liberty  in  the  land  which  God  has  given  them. 

Have  the  British  lords  a  "vested  right"  in  twenty  millions 
of  acres  in  America?  We  gave  our  "representatives"  no  authority 
to  sever  our  grea,t  country,  or  wrench  it  from  our  children,  and  I 
utterly  and  forever  declare,  that  congress  ha,d  no  more  right  to 
give  away  these  vast  tracts  of  land  than  it  had  to  trade  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  for  a  tin  whistle. 

Now,  what  shall  be  done  to  cure  this  national  malady?  There 
are  but  two  methods  of  effecting  great  social  reforms  in  a  re- 
public; one  by  the  ballot  and  the  other  by  the  bullet.  None  but 
a  fool  will  consider  the  latter,  as  the  sorrows  of  war  always  fall  on 
the  toiler.  Then  there  is  but  one  way  worthy  the  consideration  of 
patriotic  men.  Strikes,  boycotts  and  threats  are  useless  and 
childish,  except  as  pressing  invitations  for  interested  parties  to 
halt,  to  argue,  and  listen  to  the  dictates  of  justice.  The  ballot 
box  is  the  supreme  arbiter,  and  I  ha,ve  no  respect  for  a  man  who 
will  strike  or  grumble,  or  whine,  and  live  destitute,  while  he 
holds  in  his  calloused  hand  a,  ballot,  which  he  dare  not  cast 
against  a  party  boss.  With  only  these  two  methods  of  reform, 
to  teach  laboring  men  tha,t  they  "should  not  go  into  politics," 
is  to  teach  them  to  shirk  the  duties  of  citizenship,  and  is,  in  ef- 
fect, drilling  them  for  the  other  method. 

Our  case  is  not  yet  hopeless,  and  if  the  great  middle  class 
will  arouse  from  its  apathy,  and  act  as  its  own  judgment  dictates, 
promptly,  energetically,  bravely,  patriotically,  our  country  may 
be  saved  from  a  darker  danger  than  threatened  it  when  the  can- 
non boomed  against  Fort  Sumpter.  If  the  passive,  doubtful, 
grumbling  policy  is  pursued,  monopoly  will  make  occasional  con- 
cessions, under  great  pressure,  to  still  the  public  clamor  of  the 
mob,  until  the  hour  is  ript  for  a,  bold  strike  for  the  closing  act 
of  the  great  drama. 

I  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  the  ballot.  I  believe  in  the  patri- 
otism of  the  American  people.  I  believe  that  a  vast  majority  of 
the  members  of  all  parties  are  honest  and  that  they  will  act 
bravely,  as  becomes  the  free  citizens  of  our  great  republic,  when 
they  realize  the  gravity  of  the  times.  But  to  free  the  ballot  from 
the  "low  estate"  into  which  a  multiplicity  of  corrupting  influ- 
ences have  cast  it,  will  require  the  patriotism  of  a,  Washington, 


—193— 

the  courage  of  a  Jackson,  and  the  integrity  of  a  Lincoln.  It  will 
be  no  child's  play,  for  nothing  but  a  reversal  of  the  whole  indus- 
trial policy  will  suffice.  The  body  politic  is  sick  and  the  disease  is 
at  the  basis  of  social  structure.  To  hope  to  cure  the  evils  by 
simply  shortening  hours  of  labor,  establishing  boards  of  arbitra- 
tion, regulating  freight  charges  and  the  like,  as'  fallacious  as 
to  hope  to  cure  a  smajl-pox  patient  by  tearing  off  the  scabs. 

Justice  demands  that  the  great  estates  be  broken  up;  that 
the  land  be  returned  to  the  people,  that  no  man  in  a  country  so 
plentifully  bestowed,  may  be  in  want,  or  be  a  stranger  in  his 
Father's  house — a  trespasser  in  a  world,  where  God  invited  him 
to  a  free  exercise  of  his  powers.  The  government  MUST  divorce 
itself  from  Wall  street,  and  the  currency  be  regulated  by  the  sov- 
ereign people,  who  need  it  in  their  daily  business;  and  the  farmer, 
mechanic,  business  man,  or  a.ny  other,  needing,  must  have  equal 
opportunities  for  favors  in  financial  affairs,  with  the  richest  in 
the  land.  To  "coin  money"  is  a  function  of  government,  and  the 
government  should  not  delegate  to  a  monopoly  the  performance 
of  its  most  sacred  duties. 

"Protection,"  the  most  palpable  curse  tha,t  ever  damned  a  na- 
tion, bribed  a  congressman,  seduced  a  court,  starved  labor  into 
casting  a  "free  ballot"  against  its  interest,  must  be  abolished,  that 
American  genius,  matched  with  America^  skill,  may  explore  the 
world  and  feed  and  clothe  humanity  with  our  abundant  products, 
wringing  glad  shouts  of  joy  from  the  hungry  throats  of  all  the 
earth. 

The  transportation  lines  must  be  controlled,  if  indeed  not 
owned,  by  the  government,  that  the  producer  may  not  be  "robbed 
on  his  road  to  market." 

The  civil  service  should  be  so  reformed,  that  a  great  ma- 
jority of  officers  now  appointed  would  be  elective,  and  character, 
efficiency  and  general  worthiness,  and  not  opinions,  be  the  test 
of  availability. 

The  senate  of  the  United  Stages  must  be  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple, before  the  custom,  which  demands  the  purchase  of  a  legis- 
lature by  a  senatorial  candidate,  ripens  into  law. 

Yes,  repeal  every  class  law  which  blackens  our  statute  books; 
give  the  homeless  people  access  to  the  soil,  the  mines  and  min- 
erals; abolish  protective  laws,  which  tax  the  whole  of  us  for  the 

-13- 


—194— 

benefit  of  a  few  of  us;  swell  the  circulating  medium  to  the  neces- 
sities of  the  country;  make  corporations  a,nd  officials,  servants 
to  the  common  good;  and  agriculture  would  wear  a  new  life; 
commerce  whiten  every  sea;  the  rustling  wheels  of  industry  leap 
into  action;  every  seditious  hall  be  emptied  of  its  dangerous 
throng;  and  soul-stirring  music  would  gladden  the  home  where 
groans  of  innocents  were  wont  to  drive  honesty  to  crime.  Then 
will  arise  a  government  "of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the 
people;"  a  government  strong  enough  to  bind  with  cords  of  steel 
every  loyal  heart;  strong  enough  to  protect  the  basest  man  who 
seeks  a  refuge  on  our  soil;  yet,  too  wea,k  to  oppress  the  most 
helpless  wretch  that  ever  rested  his  weary  limbs  beneath  the 
shadow  of  our  flag. 

The  people  desire  peace  and  security  and  such  a  degree  of 
commercial  liberty  and  governmental  stability;  based  upon  "mod- 
ern progress,  that  when  Ambitious  men  and  haughty  despots  talk 
war,  "commerce"  may  pat  the  belligerent  gentlemen  on  the  back, 
and  cry,  "stand  back,  sir,  don't  you  spoil  my  trade!" 

But  can  these  needed  reforms  be  accomplished  peacefully? 
I  don't  know.  It  will  be  a  struggle  of  Titans.  It  may  transpire 
tha,t  a  people  who  can  sit  so  peacefully  under  a  despotism  are  un- 
worthy of  freedom.  Monopoly  controls  the  lands  with  its  re- 
sources, the  money,  the  commerce,  the  transportation  lines,  the 
congress,  courts,  legislatures,  the  church,  the  police,  the  militia, 
the  political  party  leaders,  and  can  starve  a  million  men  into 
obedience  or  revolt  in  a  week.  Where  is  hope  or  safety?  There 
are  millions  of  men  idle  arid  discontented,  thousands  of  homes  in 
want,  and  a  deep,  dangerous  murmur  of  fear,  dissatisfaction  and 
earnest  protest  on  every  hand,  and  where  is  safety,  but  in  the 
patriotism  of  the  masses? 

There  has  been  a,  cry  for  change;  but  thus  far,  monopoly  has 
been  as  deaf  to  the  cries  of  justice  as  Pharaoh  to  Israel's  cries. 
When  starving  labor  protests,  monopoly  doubles  its  guards. 
When  it  strikes,  monopoly  calls  the  militia,  to  feed  the  hungry 
with  villainous  saltpetre. 

How  long  will  want  remain  non-aggressive,  in  the  presence 
of  such  abundance?  How  long  will  poverty  remain  loyal,  when 
oppressed  by  an  idle  class?  Oppression  drives  loyalty  to  mad- 


ii 

! 


—195— 

ness,  and  should  monopoly  grow  more  insolent,  who  can  promise 
security? 

Every  voice  should  council  moderation,  but  in  every  crowded 
tenement;  in  every  destitute  home  of  necessary  idleness;  in 
every  hut,  whose  small  income  brings  want;  in  every  closed 
shop;  in  every  emptied  coal  mine,  there  are  strong  men,  bold 
from  desperation,  who  cannot  hear  the  better  councils,  and  who 
are  driven  to  look  upon  capital  as  an  enemy  because  they  have 
felt  its  injustice.  It  is  mockery  to  talk  of  patriotism  to  those 
who  are  crouching  supplicants  for  work,  and  who  must  join  a 
"labor  union"  to  get  pay  enough  to  compromise  with  want.  Toil- 
ing men  do  not  warm  with  enthusiasm  over  the  glories  of  a  coun- 
ry  where  insolence  rules,  where  idleness  fattens  in  vice  and 
uxury,  and  industry  bends  under  the  burdens  of  hard  necessity. 

When  the  most  imperative  duty  of  man  is  to  experiment  upon 
ow  little  he  can  live,  patriotism  is  at  a  low  ebb. 

Monopoly,  by  its  arrogant  meddling  with  public  affairs,  con- 
trolling politics,  lobby,  legislature,  the  judiciary  and  gathering 
the  profits  of  all  industries,  has  disgusted  business  men,  discour- 
aged farmers,  and  forced  labor  to  secret  enmity.  It  has  fostered 
dangerous  discontent  in  the  great  turbulent  centers,  and  safety 
demands  the  best  judgment  of  the  wise,  the  grandest  heroism  of 
the  brave  and  the  most  prompt  and  vigilant  action  of  the  patri- 
otic. 

There  is  yet  a  means  of  escape.  But  it  is  not  through  Pinker- 
ton's  knaves;  the  brutal  clubbing  of  burly  police;  fhe  charge  of 
white-gloved  militia;  the  city  prison  or  the  hangman's  noose,  but 
by  a  repeal  of  class  laws;  restoration  of  usurped  rights,  and  open- 
ing the  doors  to  opportunities,  that  desire  for  action  may  find 
vent  in  gainful,  and  not  destructive,  pusuits.  The  same  energy, 
which  in  hope,  rears  an  opulent  metropolis,  in  despair,  levels  it 
to  the  ground.  Force,  well  directed,  builds  up  a  city;  ill  directed, 
blows  up  a  city.  It  is  the  same  force. 

Then  think;  with  fifty  bold,  desperate  men  in  each  great  city, 
as  well  organized  and  reckless  as  the  Russian  nihilists,  with  dyna- 
mite worth  thirty-five  cents  per  pound,  and  a,  will  to  use  it,  con- 
sternation would  drive  the  city  to  helplessness,  and  all  unmovable 
property  could  be  rendered  valueless  in  a  week. 

Should  the  people  in  those  great  centers,  who  feel  so  secure 


—196— 

in  the  strength  of  the  government  and  alertness  of  the  police,  be 
startled  from  their  midnight  slumbers  by  a  shock  more  terrific 
than  ten  thousand  cannons,  atnd  hear  the  great  stones,  blown  like 
chaff  into  the  air,  come  crashing  down  through  roofs  and  spires 
and  temples  of  justice;  see  the  red  flames  burst  forth  from  store- 
houses of  rich  and  costly  wares,  till  they  pierce  the  very  clouds; 
see  tender  maidens  and  dimpled  babes,  above  the  rea,ch  of  help, 
rushing  to  and  fro,  and  the  cruel  heat  licking  away  the  golden 
locks;  see  mothers  with  startled  infants  in  their  naked  arms, 
shrieking  for  help,  and  hear  the  cries  a.nd  prayers  to  the  mute 
heavens  for  mercy,  drowned  by  the  crashing  timbers  and  the 
awful  roar  of  the  consuming  fire;  the  world  would  shrink  with 
horror  from  the  sight,  and  drive  away  the  terrible  thought  in  a 
mental  effort  to  prepare  suitable  punishment  for  the  fiendish  per- 
petrators. 

How  unutterly  infamous  would  be  the  wretch  who  planned 
such  hellish  deeds,  and  an  attempt  to  palliate  the  crime,  would 
palsy  the  tongue;  but  alarming  as  it  seems,  there  are,  in  every 
center  of  idleness  and  discontent,  a  thousand  frantic  brains, 
through  which  such  pictures  play  with  savage  defight.  If  I  dis- 
cover a  conspiracy  to  commit  arson,  murder,  treason,  or  other 
crime,  the  law  demands  that  I  interfere,  or  give  the  a,larm.  Now, 
I  see  in  tens  of  thousands  of  haggard  faces,  reflected  the  startling 
pictures  of  woe  and  destruction  that  fires  tens  of  thousands  of 
bewildered  brains,  and  I  tell  the  apathetic  people  to  arouse,  and 
by  some  just  and  generous  means,  avert  the  danger  that 
threatens  to  overwhelm  us. 

The  future  is  indeed  dark,  but  unless  monopoly  Is  dethroned, 
and  the  whole  industrial  system  changed,  the  people  will  grad- 
ua,lly  sink  until  despair  arouses  resistance,  and  then  comes  resti- 
tution, through  revolution.  Deplore  it  as  we  may,  the  issue  has 
been  forced  by  oragnized  aristocracy,  and,  if  relief  comes,  it  must 
be  from  the  organized  patriotism  of  the  lower  millions.  In  grasp- 
ing all  the  rights  and  privileges  belonging  to  the  people,  'tis  they 
who  have  raised  the  standard  of  revolt.  They  and  not  we,  have 
lajd  the  mines,  but  who  may  ply  the  torch,  remains  for  the  future. 

If  the  great  middle  class  will  shake  off  its  apathy,  obey  the 
dictates  of  patriotism,  and  prepare  for  auction,  the  country  may  yet 
be  saved  by  the  ballot,  the  glories  of  the  republic  survive  this 


—197— 

lock,  and  posterity  bless  this  generation  for  rescuing  the  coun- 
try from  a  darker  danger  than  hovered  over  it  in  '61.  If  the  high 
mettled  pride  of  our  ancestors  finds  no  abiding  place  in  this  gen- 
eration, the  sun  of  liberty  is  forever  set,  and  the  failure  of  an  ex- 
periment in  self-government  will  go  down  the  ages,  a  warning 
to  all  who  foolishly  prefer  ruling  themselves  to  being  ruled  by 
others. 

But  liberty  will  not  sleep,  and  if  our  people  are  lost  to  pride 
and  patriotism,  the  gods  tha,t  preserved  the  continent  for  a  new 
experiment  in  human  government,  will  spur  mad  ambition,  and 
goad  apathy  into  action;  then  the  bugle  will  call,  the  fields  will 
be  tented,  the  heart  made  sad,  the  home  desolate,  and  the  patriot 
will  sit  by  the  low  camp  fire  and  read  this  little  volume  to  com- 
rades, who  are  fighting  with  him,  a  new  war  for  liberty. 


NOTE. 

To  people  in  the  West,  who  pay  six  dollars  per  pair  for  good 
blankets,  my  argument  on  page  108  may  seem  defective,  as  being 
based  on  too  small  a  per  cent  profit  and  too  low  a  price.  They 
must  remember,  however,  that  we  of  the  West,  pay  a  heavier  per 
cent  to  numerous  "middlemen,"  and  that  the  English  traders  are 
satisfied  with  from  two  to  five  per  cent  on  reliable  sajes.  My 
argument  is  based  upon  Eastern  quotations,  close  to  the  wholesale 
nters.  No  explanation  will  be  necessary  in  the  East. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
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